Icefall
by Momo Aathara
Summary: After the shadow realm is destroyed all of the souls return to their bodies,but what about the two people who don't have bodies to return to? Well they would have to go somewhere else. Bakura wakes up as a kit in Thunderclan knowing that nothing will be the same. Some Yugioh characters, but mostly warriors. YGOTAS references and other things. Oh, and Yami Bakura, there's him too.
1. Allegiances 1

**Okay, this is my Warriors and Yugioh crossover, Icefall. Just so you know, there will be YGOTAS references. I know, I know, I can't write a story without them, but who cares! Yami Marik is going to be called Melvin for the sole reason that I don't feel like typing Yami every time he comes in. If and when the pharaoh comes in he will be called Atem, but Yami Bakura will just be Bakura, or Fluffy if you prefer, and Ryou Bakura will be Ryou. The story is going to start a few months after Yugioh ends, and at the beginning of the first book in the second series of Warriors. This chapter will only be the Allegiances and the next one will be the prolog. The actual story will start in chapter 3. Thank you, and enjoy.**

…

**ThunderClan**

**Leader:** Firestar – ginger tom with a flame-colored pelt

**Deputy:** Greystripe – long-haired grey tom

**Medicine Cat:** Cinderpelt – dark grey she-cat

**Apprentice,** Leafpaw

**Warriors:** Mousefur – small, dusty brown she-cat

**Apprentice,** Spiderpaw

Dustpelt – dark brown tabby tom

**Apprentice,** Squirrelpaw

Sandstorm – pale ginger she-cat

**Apprentice, **Sorrelpaw

Cloudtail – long-haired white tom 

Brakenfur – golden brown tabby tom

**Apprentice, **Whitepaw

Thornclaw – golden brown tabby tom

**Apprentice, **Shrewpaw

Brightheart – white she-cat with ginger patches

Brambleclaw – dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Ashfur – pale grey (with darker flecks) tom, dark blue eyes

Rainwhisker – dark grey tom with blue eyes

Sootfur – lighter grey tom with amber eyes

**Apprentices:** Sorrelpaw – tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes

Squirrelpaw – dark ginger she cat with green eyes

Leafpaw – light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Spiderpaw – long limbed black tom with a brown underbelly and amber eyes

Shrewpaw – small, dark brown tom with amber eyes

Whitepaw – white she-cat with green eyes

**Queens: **Goldenflower – pale ginger coat, the oldest nursery queen (no kits)

Ferncloud – pale grey (with darker flecks) she-cat, green eyes, mother of Dustpelt's kits (Larchkit, Hollykit, and Icekit)

**Elders:** Frostfur – beautiful white she-cat with blue eyes

Dappletail – once pretty tortoiseshell she-cat, the oldest cat in ThunderClan

Speckletail – pale tabby she-cat

Longtail – pale tabby tom with dark black stripes, retired early due to failing sight

**ShadowClan**

**Leader:** Blackstar – large white tom with huge, jet-black paws

**Deputy:** Russetfur – dark ginger she-cat

**Medicine Cat:** Littlecloud – very small tabby tom

**Warriors:** Oakfur – small brown tom

**Apprentice,** Smokepaw

Tawnypelt – tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

Cedarheart – dark grey tom

Rowanclaw – ginger she-cat

**Apprentice, **Talonpaw

Tallpoppy – long legged light brown tabby she-cat

**Elders:** Runningnose – small grey and white tom, formerly the Medicine Cat

**WindClan **

**Leader:** Tallstar – elderly black-and-white tom with a very long tail

**Deputy:** Mudclaw – mottled dark brown tom

**Apprentice,** Crowpaw – dark smoky grey, almost black tom with blue eyes

**Medicine Cat:** Barkface – short tailed brown tom

**Warriors:** Onewhisker – brown tabby tom

Webfoot – dark grey tabby tom

Tornear – tabby tom

Whitetail – small white she-cat

**Elders:** Morningflower – tortoiseshell she-cat

**RiverClan**

**Leader:** Leopardstar – unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat

**Deputy:** Mistyfoot – grey she-cat with blue eyes

**Medicine Cat:** Mudfur – long haired light brown tom

**Apprentice, **Mothwing – beautiful golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Warriors:** Blackclaw – smoky black tom

Heavystep – thickset tabby tom

Stormfur – dark grey tom with amber eyes

Feathertail – light grey she-cat with blue eyes

Hawkfrost – broad shouldered dark brown tom

Mosspelt – tortoiseshell she-cat

**Queens:** Dawnflower – pale grey she-cat

**Elders:** Shadepelt – very dark grey she-cat

Loudbelly – dark brown tom

**Cats Outside of Clans**

Barley – black and white tom that loves on a farm close to the forest

Ravenpaw – sleek black cat that lives on the farm with Barley

Purdy – elderly tabby tom that lives in the woods near the sea

**Other Characters**

Shadi – sandy-brown tom in cat form, can enter StarClan at any time, and knows who the two cats mentioned in his prophecy are

Marik Ishtar – no cat form, knows about the two turning into cats

Ishizu Ishtar – no cat form, psychic abilities, knows about the two turning into cats

Ryou Bakura – no cat form, lives in Sanctuary Cottage

…

**Done now, thanks for reading! 8D**


	2. Prologue 1

**This chapter is still just the prolog, but it is still necessary! **

…

Marik and Ishizu Ishtar were sitting in their hotel room in Domino City when suddenly Ishizu's eyes flashed with something that would be unreadable to most people, but not to Marik. He recognized the look. It was the same one that she got every time her Millennium Necklace had shown her a vision of the future. She didn't have the necklace anymore, but occasionally she would still get visions because of her natural psychic abilities.

Usually what she saw had nothing to do with him, so he just ignored it, but this time when her eyes became normal again she stared directly at him with horror glazed eyes, so he sat up in bed to listen.

"Something is wrong," she stated bluntly.

_I've gathered that. _ Marik thought irritably, but he was able to keep the words from coming out of his mouth.

Ever since the pharaoh, or Atem he guessed he was supposed to call him now, crossed over he'd been a lot angrier and more hostile to the people who cared about him. Well, maybe it had been slightly before then, when Yugi and his friends had come back from the past after they- they killed-.

No! He couldn't think about that now, he wouldn't! The white-haired boy that he had grown close to without realizing it during the Battle City Tournament didn't matter anymore; he was gone, and that was a good thing, right? Of course it was, he was evil, and he was willing to kill people to accomplish his goals. But, hadn't Marik been doing all that evil with him? Hadn't they had similar goals? Defeat the pharaoh and claim the Millennium Items and the god cards so that they could take his place; that was their mission. They each had our own reasons for hating the pharaoh. He had been the reason that Marik had to spend his childhood underground with his abusive father, but Marik still didn't know why the white-haired boy hated him.

Marik paused for a moment. Maybe that was why he wanted him back so badly, so he could understand. Understand why he spent his entire existence trying to take the Millennium Items from the pharaoh. Understand why he was so dedicated to that one goal, that one purpose. Understand why he had agreed to work with someone like Marik, who would only slow him down. Understand why at that last moment he had stalled so long and gave the pharaoh enough time to say his name and destroy him.

Atem, Marik forced himself to think; he was the one who destroyed him, the one who took away one of the only people who would ever treat him like a friend and not and insane psychopath that almost killed their best friend or brother. The only other people were Ishizu, his sister, and Ryou, the white-haired boy's host. It was a little painful to look at him and not see the sharp features that were added to his body when his Yami was in control, but since they both had darker halves and a difficult past Marik thought that it would be much worse to have to go to Domino City High School without someone he could talk to. These past few months had been some of the hardest in his life, but he had to keep going for Ishizu and Ryou's sakes.

"So we need to be careful, right Marik," Ishizu concluded seriously.

Marik blinked. He had done it again; gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he had completely missed everything that his sister had said. "What?" he asked Ishizu awkwardly, knowing that she wouldn't be happy about repeating herself.

Just as he thought she would, she sighed deeply, letting all of her annoyance show. "I said," she emphasized focusing on Marik to make sure that he was paying attention. "I've seen something. It showed the future, and the Yamis were there," she paused. "I've been thinking recently about the incident when the Pharaoh and his friends were in the past and Bakura got sent to the shadow realm."

Marik tried to hide it, but he was sure that Ishizu saw him visibly flinch at the mention of Ryou's Yami's name and his fate, but if she did she ignored it.

"They said that defeating him destroyed the shadow realm and released everyone that was trapped there, but that would mean that it also released him, and Melvin."

She looked at Marik, waiting for emotion to pour out of his face. Sorrow, rage, fear, something, but all she got was a blank stare that was somewhere between stunned and disbelief.

"So we need to be careful, because I have no idea what form they would be in now because the Millennium Ring Bakura was attached to is gone and Melvin obviously isn't inside of you.

Marik paused for a moment. He wished Ishizu would stop saying his name, it only made the situation harder, but he tried not to let that stop him from participating in the discussion of the issue. "What if they got their own bodies?" he suggested openly. It would be great if Bakura got his own body, but if Melvin did- well, that was a different story.

"No," she stated fiercely, which caught Marik off guard. "Bodies don't just pop out of nowhere. They would have to be reincarnated into something unborn."

"So, some random woman is going to have _Melvin_ for a baby?"

"I don't think so. It's more likely that they would be reincarnated into an animal since their bodies are smaller and they usually have more than one child at a time. What animal do you think-?"

"Cat," Marik said instantly without realizing it. He knew Bakura would probably claw his eyes out for assuming that, since he had a habit of calling him various names that compared him to the fluffy animal.

"You think so?" Ishizu asked skeptically.

Marik nodded. "I'm sure of it."

…

"But dad!" Ryou cried desperately, "We can't move!"

"We don't have a choice, Ryou. We need to move so that I can keep a good job; you know how my line of work is."

"Yeah, but you couldn't have hit every archeology site in Japan! We've only been here for two years!"

"Of course not, but I've been offered a better paying job in California near the ocean that will support us better, and you won't be too far away from your friends."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Yeah, only an ocean away," he mumbled sarcastically. He was slightly startled by his own harsh tone, but Bakura had been rubbing off on him throughout the past year, so his speech and actions could now be fierce when he wanted them to be instead of his usual light tone.

"Exactly," his dad responded happily, still unable to recognize sarcasm when he heard it. "So start packing."

Ryou sighed. There was no point in arguing anymore. He was going to suggest that he just stay here alone, but he knew his dad would hear nothing of it now. He was completely set on moving to America.

He shook his head. This was so unfair. Just when he had started to get back into the group, he had to leave. It had only been a few months since the Pharaoh crossed over, and now, just when everyone had stopped avoiding him because of his Yami, he had to leave all of that behind. He would miss them all, but especially Marik.

Marik hadn't ever tried to avoid him because of Bakura, Ryou didn't know if that was because he was brave, didn't care, or if he actually liked his Yami, but that didn't matter to him as long he had one true friend who was never afraid of him. Also Marik was the only one at the school to call him Ryou, all the rest of his "friends" called him Bakura. It made him happy that Marik didn't. They had grown close over the last 3 months once Marik had started going the school, not only because of their connection to Bakura, but also their similar pasts and experiences with their Yamis.

It was all over now though. It was almost winter break and from what his dad had told him they were going to be living in the middle of nowhere, in a place called Sanctuary Cottage, so the possibility of making friends was at about negative two percent.

He barely even got to say goodbye to everyone before he was flying across the Pacific ocean, starring out at the vast sea that was slowly bringing him farther and farther away from his friends.

…

The cats of StarClan slowly moved into a clearing where a blue-grey she-cat was already sitting. Once it was obvious that they were all ready she spoke. "A new prophecy has come!" she meowed. "A doom that will change everything has been foretold in the stars."

As the cats of StarClan discussed the prophecy and chose one cat from each clan to go on a journey to fulfill the prophecy one cat silently came into the clearing and sat at the back of the group. Once he was sure that they were done the sandy-brown tom spoke. "There is not only one danger that affects the clans," he whispered solemnly.

A few of the cats close to him whipped around at the sound of this new voice. The blue-grey she-cat, Bluestar, made her way through the crowd to sit in front of the stranger. "Who are you?" she asked plainly. Usually only a select few cats spoke at these meetings, and she had never seen his face or heard his voice before.

"My name is Shadi," he answered, bowing his head in respect, "I am sorry that I have invaded your home, I know I have no right to be here, but I have a message for you that concerns your kin as well as mine."

Bluestar nodded to him, encouraging him on with his message.

"Two cats that were never supposed to be born will come to the clans infusing there spirits in kits that were already going to be born. These two will replace the cats that were meant to do many important tasks for the clans, and will change the future of the clans forever."

"How do you know this?" Bluestar asked, "What has caused it?"

"I knew of both of these individuals in their past life, both of them are very dangerous and unpredictable, so I suggest you take caution in dealing with them. As for what caused it, both of these two were still living spirits, but they didn't have bodies to return to after their spirits were released. Be warned, they will still contain all of their memories of their previous life, and they will be known to others outside of the clans."

A million questions bounced back and forth between cats as they tried to figure out what this meant. Bluestar silenced them with a flick of her tail, and faced Shadi herself. "Which cats know of them? Can we go to them to ask about what we should do?"

"No," Shadi stated firmly, "No other cats know of them."

"But you said-!"

"I said that there were others that knew of them, but I never said they were cats."

"I don't understand."

"You will, in due time." Shadi turned away, giving a quick nod to Bluestar before he disappeared into the bracken.

The cats of StarClan stared at the place where he had disappeared curiously until a bracken-colored tom stepped forward and sat beside Bluestar. "Should we warn the clans?" he asked quietly.

Bluestar shook her head, "I don't know, Oakheart. It seems like we would just cause panic if we told them, besides all we know is at some point two kits are going to be born who were dangerous in the past. What will they be able to do if they've only just been born? I think we should wait until we know who they are, and what they are capable of."

Oakheart nodded, "I think that would be best. Still, watch the new kits in your clan closely; we need to be prepared for what they can do."

Bluestar nodded and slowly the cats began to file out of the clearing, talking in hushed voiced about the two new prophecies.


	3. Midnight 1

**Hello again! Yes, I am still in the world of the living, but I am afraid I have been suffering from a serious disease called ELS, also known as Extreme Laziness Syndrome. Sorry, but it is a very serious medical condition that I suffer from. Luckily today it was less serious so I could finally update! Okay, I'm done ranting now, on to the chapter!**

…

Ferncloud cringed as she felt her soon-to-be-born kits shift inside of her. Since this was her second litter of kits she had been able to hold back her cries of pain that had woken up the entire camp last time.

"It's alright, Ferncloud," Cinderpelt soothed softly. "The first one's almost here, just stay calm." She turned to her apprentice who was string at Ferncloud intently, waiting for the kits to come. "Leafpaw, do you remember what to do?"

Leafpaw nodded quickly without taking her eyes off the kitting queen. This was the first time she had helped Cinderpelt with kitting during her apprenticeship, and she was determined to get everything right. She had only been an apprentice for two moons, and she wanted to impress her mentor by doing everything perfectly.

The first kit that was born was a brown tabby she-cat who was slightly smaller than usual; the second kit was pure white all over, which was unusual because his father was a dark brown tabby and his mother was grey with dark gray flecks.

Leafpaw was still bust licking the first kit when she was born, so she didn't realize what was wrong until after the third kit, a large brown tabby she-cat had been born, Cinderpelt had begun licking her, and Ferncloud had collapsed from exhaustion.

"Cinderpelt!" she called franticly as she stopped licking the white tom, "He's not breathing!"

Cinderpelt sighed, not even slightly shaken by the news. "You have to warm him up, Leafpaw. You said that you remembered what to do." She wasn't yelling, but Leafpaw could tell that she was annoyed.

"I did remember!" she protested. "I licked him to warm him up, but he's still not breathing!"

Cinderpelt's eyes widened as she darted over to the kit.

"I don't understand," Leafpaw continued while Cinderpelt tried to figure out what was wrong with the kit. "His heart's beating, he's warm, and he appears to be fully healthy." She trailed off, unsure of herself, and snuck a glance over at Ferncloud. She couldn't help but be a little relieved that she didn't know what was going on yet. Ferncloud was fiercely protective of all her kits; she would be devastated if this one didn't survive.

She was so busy thinking about Ferncloud that at first she didn't notice her mentor's shift. When she did look back she saw that Cinderpelt was gazing up at the stars with confusion in her eyes. "I'm going to talk to Firestar," she announced suddenly. She turned to her apprentice, "Call me if anything changes."

"Alright," Leafpaw called as Cinderpelt limped as fast as she could towards Firestar's den.

Leafpaw sat down in front of the seemingly lifeless kit and watched him curiously, but nothing changed. At least, not until the first rays of sunshine peaked over the horizon. At that moment the small kit twitched and started coughing softly.

Leafpaw's eyes widened as he instantly jumped to his feet and started looking around wildly. His eyes were dark amber, and they flew around the den rapidly, taking in every part of it. For some reason it made Leafpaw uneasy. She wanted to leave the den before he noticed her, but the lost look in his eyes kept her rooted to the spot. "Are you alright?" she forced herself to ask.

The white kit whipped around at the sound of her voice, and stared at her with cold, narrow, calculating eyes. "No, I am not _okay_," he growled. "Where am I, and why on earth am I a-? " He stopped. "Never mind, I'll figure that out later, but who are you?"

Leafpaw blinked in surprise. "You've just been born into Thunderclan," she explained. "You mother, Ferncloud, and your two sisters are over there," she added, nodding over to Ferncloud and her kits. "I'm Leafpaw, the apprentice medicine cat, and right now you're in me and my mentor, Cinderpelt's de- Oh right!" She darted out of the den, offering no explanation as to where she was going, and ran out of sight.

The white kit cocked his head curiously at where she had disappeared and waited for a few seconds before deciding that she wasn't coming back anytime soon. He wandered over to a small pool in the back of the den and began to study himself curiously.

His fur was pure snow white, short, and made him look like a cotton ball. His eyes were the same dark brown that they had been before and he found himself slightly relived that that aspect of him was the same.

"See!" Leafpaw's voice rang out from the entrance of the den happily, causing the white kit to whip around in alarm. "I told you he was okay!" She was speaking to a larger dark gray she-cat whose eyes were wide with astonishment and disbelief.

The larger cat raced over to the kit and started studying him curiously while the small white kit shot her annoyed, angry glances. He tried to just wait for her to stop, but she showed no intentions of quitting so he leaped out of her way and let out an angry hiss. "I'm fine! Whatever was wrong with me before is fine now, so just get away from me!"

Cinderpelt stepped back in shock; not even Dustpelt was that prickly. She tried to figure out how best to respond to his anger, but she never had the chance. Ferncloud let out a yawn and blinked drowsily up at the cats. Her eyes found her son and she smiled warmly at him.

Leafpaw stepped closer to her mentor. "What are we going to tell her? She'll just worry if she knew," she whispered urgently.

Cinderpelt nodded. "You're right; she doesn't need to know, no one does," she decided, "Only you, me, and Firestar even know about this anyway."

She was right of course; no one had to know about this, but still, it felt wrong to keep something from the clan. Leafpaw glanced uneasily over at Ferncloud who had gathered all three over her kits close to her and begun licking them gently. Leafpaw saw the white kit hiss in annoyance.

After endless questions over whether her kits were alright, and what seemed like moons of licking, Cinderpelt suggested that the group move back to the nursery.

Ferncloud agreed and picked up her oldest daughter then Cinderpelt grabbed the youngest kit, which left Leafpaw staring at the white kit awkwardly in the empty medicine cat den.

"I can walk on my own you know," he snapped before she had the chance to do anything. "I don't need you to carry me."

She hesitated, but he had already padded out of the den. She hurried after him and found him staring around the camp at all the different dens. "The nursery is that one," she indicated, pointing with her tail.

"I know that," he growled angrily as he stalked over to the den where Cinderpelt and Ferncloud had disappeared.

Leafpaw didn't bother to ask how he could possibly know that if he had never been out of the medicine cat den before.

When they entered the nursery the white kit discovered that it was not going to only be his mother and his siblings living there. There was also a pale ginger she-cat laying in the corner and a young tortoiseshell and white she-cat with sparkling amber eyes.

She jumped to her paws when she saw the group then grabbed the squirrel that was sitting in front of her and padded over to Ferncloud. She dropped the squirrel in front of the queen and grinned. "There you are!" she mewed brightly, "I thought that I would miss my assessment while waiting to see the new kits!"

Leafpaw smiled. "Sorry, Sorrelpaw, we didn't mean to make you wait."

"Oh it's fine; I'm the one who wanted to see the new kits anyway." She glanced over at the kit Ferncloud had been carrying and smiled. "They're so cute, Ferncloud," she purred, her gaze sweeping across the two dark brown tabby she-cats and coming to rest on the white kit. She blinked curiously. "That's odd," she murmured as she padded over to the white kit. "He looks kind of like Cloudtail."

"Well let's hope he doesn't act like him," commented a new voice from the entrance of the nursery.

Ferncloud smiled. "Dustpelt," she purred.

He walked over to his mate and licked her head affectionately. "They're perfect."

Leafpaw and Cinderpelt exchanged a glance.

"Oh, and Sorrelpaw," Dustpelt continued, glancing over at the tortoiseshell and white apprentice as he settled down next to Ferncloud and their kits, "Sandstorm was looking for you, something about your warrior assessment?"

Sorrelpaw's eyes widened. "Right!" she exclaimed as she hurried out of the nursery. "Thanks, Dustpelt!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed away.

"We should be going too," Cinderpelt added after Sorrelpaw was gone. "Send someone if you need me, Ferncloud."

Leafpaw shot one more glance at the white kit before following her mentor out of the nursery.

He let out a sigh of relief; finally everything would be quiet and he could think.

The silence didn't last long though, because not 10 minutes later there was another cat trying to make his way into the nursery. "Ug," he mumbled angrily as he broad shoulders caught on the thorns that surrounded the narrow entrance to the nursery. He was a large dark brown tabby with amber eyes that were narrowed in frustration at the moment.

The white kit looked away angrily; so much for quiet. He needed time to think about what had happened to him, but it seemed like every cat in the universe wanted to see him.

"Hey there, Brambleclaw," Dustpelt meowed, "Come to see the new kits?" His eyes sparkled, bursting with pride.

The white kit rolled his eyes. _Well he's obviously not here to see you._

"They're beautiful," Brambleclaw meowed kindly, touching noses with Ferncloud. "Have you chosen names for them yet?"

The white kit's ears perked up in interest.

"Not yet," Ferncloud sighed, exhaustion evident in her features.

"Well what on earth's taking so long?"

Everyone's attention shifted over to the small white kit. He blinked; he hadn't realized that he had spoken aloud. After a few moments of awkward silence he decided to go with it. "Well?" he prompted Ferncloud, staring deep into her eyes.

"Go on, Ferncloud, he wants his name now so you might as well," the pale ginger she-cat said warmly, breaking the silence.

Ferncloud glanced over at her quickly before turning back to her son. His gaze was hard and cold; it challenged her in a way she had never seen before.

"Icekit," she decided.

He blinked at her.

_Icekit. I guess that will be fine._

The other cats in the den were staring at him, waiting for his opinion on the name he had just received.

"It'll work," he replied shortly.

His answer was not a good one at all, but it seemed to satisfy his mother.

He knew that his new name was nowhere hisreal name, but he highly doubted that these cats would be willing to call him Bakura. In fact, he highly doubted that these cats even suspected that he was different, save for Cinderpelt and Leafpaw, and perhaps Firestar, whoever that was. They still didn't have even a remote chance of putting everything together though, so he wasn't worried. Not that he would have been worried if these cats did know who he was, they wouldn't hurt him anyway. Still, he would remain a secret to everyone until he could figure out how to get back to Ryou.

He sighed and laid down facing away from the other cats. _Being a cat is way more complicated than it should be._


	4. Midnight and Moonrise 2

**Um….hi guys… I'm really sorry that this took so long to update, but as many of you probably know absolutely NOTHING happens back at camp during Midnight and Moonrise except for a few short events, so I combined the two books into this chapter so I could move on with the story. I apologize in advance if it fails, but trust me it is way better than the first three tries. Also, if you all could respond to my question at the bottom it would be really helpful later on in the story. Thanks! 8D**

…

Time went by slowly in the camp; there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. Kits were forbidden to exit the camp, and as far as Icekit could tell there wasn't much to do outside of the camp anyway, at least not for someone his size.

It annoyed him to no end to admit, but it was true; he was a kit. He was a tiny, insignificant creature whose only role in life was to be cute, sleep, and cry for more milk.

As if to prove his point, Larchkit and Hollykit, his newly named siblings, started mewing loudly from inside of the nursery.

He growled and stalked away from the den angrily, trying to drown out the kit's feeble cries.

Not many cats were still in the camp this late. They were all out hunting or patrolling or doing something more entertaining than sitting in the camp waiting for something remotely interesting to happen.

Sure, there had been the disappearance of Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw a few moons ago, which did more harm than good to his boredom since their constant arguments used to be his only source of entertainment. Then there had been two gatherings, meetings between all four clans at the full moon, since he had arrived there, but it wasn't like he could go, so they also served only to annoy him. Lastly, there was the apparent destruction or the forest that everyone was so upset about. That is, everyone accept Icekit.

He was only mildly annoyed, and that was only because everyone kept whining about it. Ha! He had endured so much worse back in ancient Egypt; this was nothing.

He sighed. Leafpaw, it seemed, was the only option for entertainment he had. She was the only cat who was almost always in the camp, and the only one who wouldn't shove him away like he was just an annoying kit.

With that thought in mind, he reluctantly padded into the medicine cat's den.

…

Leafpaw thrashed about in her sleep, trying to escape the terrifying image that was threatening to send her to StarClan right here and now.

All she had seen when she had first arrived was the forest, exactly the same as it had always been, but it didn't stay that way.

Slowly, the forest got darker, and a deep, menacing fog crept out from amongst the trees.

She blinked nervously as she stood in an eerie silence in the dark until all of the sounds she couldn't hear exploded at once.

Cats of all sizes erupted out of the bushes, clawing and hissing at each other with pure hatred in their eyes.

It was so dark that Leafpaw couldn't recognize any of them, and no one seemed to notice that she was trying to figure it out. In fact, no one seemed to notice that she was there at all.

Leafpaw scanned the forest, trying to answer any of the questions that were rapidly forming in her mind, but she found none. What she did find was a pair of deep blue, almost black eyes that gleamed from behind the group of bushes in front of her where all of the battling cats had come from.

In a moment he was on top of her; his growl low and vicious and his claws sharp as an adder's fangs.

She cried out in pain as she felt the cat's teeth clamp down on her shoulder and his claws dig into her sides. She flailed around furiously, trying to break out of his hold, but it was no use. He was too strong for someone as small as Leafpaw to simply roll out. As she was trying to formulate a plan, she felt the weight lift off of her.

Immediately she jumped to her paws and tried to run away, but her tail was still pinned to the ground by the cat that had attacked her. She gazed up fearfully, terrified that it would be Tigerstar's face that stared back at her, but the cat she saw didn't look like the one Firestar had described to her. Actually, he didn't look like any cat she knew or had heard about at all.

He was a dusty brown tom with deep blue eyes that made his jagged pelt appear darker. His pelt and claws were smeared with blood, and after a moment Leafpaw realized that it was hers. His eyes were bright with energy and the terrifying smirk that he wore scared Leafpaw even more.

"Hey, Leafpaw." His voice was full of amusement, and his grin grew as he addressed her.

"W-What do you want with me?" she stammered, her voice cracking.

He chuckled to himself, bowing his head in amusement. When he stopped and his eyes refocused on her he answered. "It's no big deal really," he answered casually, moving his shoulders up in an odd, out of place way. "I just want to play a little game with you." He leaned in and whispered, just inches from her face, "Run."

The weight lifted off her tail and instantly Leafpaw sprinted into the forest, going as fast as she could possibly go to try to avoid what she knew was coming, who she knew was coming.

Her lungs burned as she fled into the endless forest. She ran as fast as she could, but she wasn't fully grown and her attacker had much longer legs and more powerful muscles that propelled him forward, so it wasn't long until Leafpaw heard branches snapping and leaves rustling as her attacker drew closer to his prey.

When the weight hit her she was ready. She ducked out of his way, spun around, and reared up with her claws unsheathed, ready to bring them down on the tom.

She stopped just short of clawing the kit's ears off in shock. He looked the same as the other cat only his eyes were soft and confused and his pelt was soft and fluffy with kit fuzz.

He blinked up at her and she sheathed her claws, lowering her paw slowly confusion still etched in her features.

As soon as her paw touched the ground, the kit's face morphed into the crazy demonic smirk that the older cat had been wearing earlier. She only had time to let out a shrill cry for help before his fangs sunk into her throat.

…

"Oy, Leafpaw, get up."

Icekit prodded the sleeping medicine cat who was thrashing violently about in her sleep in an attempt to wake her up.

She cried out as she jolted out of her dream causing Icekit to jump in alarm. Her wide eyes focused on Icekit and she spoke, her body still tense and her voice shaking. "Icekit," she whispered, "D-Do you need something?"

He could sense how difficult it was for her to steady her voice even to the point that it was now; curiosity picked at his mind. What had she been dreaming about that had scared her so much? Wait, why did he care? He had only come in here because he was bored; he wasn't about to start consoling Leafpaw or any of that nonsense, so he just acted like he didn't notice her shaking.

"No," he answered coldly as he turned to leave the den. "You were just making a lot of noise; I wanted to see if anything interesting was happening, but I guess not."

He flicked his tail dismissively, and walked out of the den without a backwards glance.

…

Icekit jolted awake; something was going on in the den.

His ears pricked as he heard Ferncloud's weak cries echoing throughout the nursery.

He creped across the floor, careful not to catch her eye, and peered out into the clearing.

Dustpelt was collapsed in front of Firestar with Leafpaw hovering over him anxiously. His eyes were filled with pain and he spoke in a low whisper as if he couldn't bear to raise his voice any higher.

"Larchkit is dead."

Instantly, Cinderpelt was beside Ferncloud in the den giving no sign that she saw Icekit on her way in.

He followed her in keeping low and hidden in the shadows, and stared at his grief stricken mother.

Her head was bowed in pure defeat, and her nose was pressed into her daughter's pelt as if she was trying to catch the last wisps of her scent until it faded forever. Hollykit was by her side staring at her sister and trying to comprehend what had happened. It figured that she would be the one who saw him first.

She padded over to him softly taking special care not to disturb Ferncloud.

Icekit was generally surprised. He had no idea that she could be quiet, let alone sneaky, and when she blinked up at him with her light amber eyes the resemblance crashed down on him and an unwanted memory of Ayame devoured him.

No, not Ryou's Ayame who's death in a car crash had had absolutely nothing to do with him contrary to some people's beliefs. He meant _his_ Ayame, _his _little sister, the one he had fled Kul Elna with only to watch die because of her kindness and bravery.

He broke out of his daze as he felt warm fur being buried in his chest. Hollykit was sobbing. Icekit blinked down at her, unsure of what to do.

His first instinct was to move away, but something held him back.

He blinked. What was wrong with him? No one should be turning to him for comfort regardless of whether they knew who he was or not. He had never been kind to any of them, so why was Hollykit-?

"Icekit?"

Hollykit's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"I-It's okay," she trembled, obviously not okay at all. "L-Larchkit is in StarClan now. S-She won't be hungry any more. S-She'll be h-happy."

She buried her nose in his fur again, unable to continue.

She acted just like Ayame. Ayame had always relied on him and had always come to him when she was upset. It seemed like this cat had a piece of his sister inside of her that was telling her to rely on him.

He shook his head. _No!_ She wasn't Ayame; she was Hollykit, just another stupid cat that he would have to deal with until he could find his way back to the Millennium Ring.

He pushed her away and averted his eyes. He felt her eyes boring into him with sadness and confusion, but he refused to turn around. He didn't need comfort, or kindness; he needed solitude: that was who he was, who he'd always been.

…

"Icekit! Come on, play with me!" Hollykit squealed as she darted from side to side in front of her brother.

She had been upset and quiet for a while after Larchkit's death, but she refused to sulk forever, so now she was back to jumping around like crazy, and since she didn't have Larchkit to play with anymore she had turned to Icekit.

He didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused by her energy. Annoyed, he decided furiously as she accidently stepped on his tail.

He hissed at her, his tail lashing and his body poised to pounce.

Hollykit's eyes lit up. She mimicked his position and launched herself on top of him.

As they wrestled around the clearing Icekit felt an unfamiliar burst of adrenalin that he couldn't remember feeling before. For a split second the ice lifted off his face revealing eyes that were alive with excitement before quickly realizing his mistake and covering his excitement.

Hollykit's grin widened and he knew she had seen it. Her blows grew faster and fiercer as she tried to trigger the reaction again.

Icekit leaped back, dodging a particularly fierce swipe and crashed into the cat that had just entered the camp through the fern tunnel.

He jumped up and turned on the cat, finding himself face to face with Sorreltail, the cat that had commented on his white fur right after he had found himself in Thunderclan. Her eyes were wide with terror and were darting back and forth franticly.

Before Icekit had the chance to say anything to her, she had sprinted up to Firestar's den like she hadn't just been plowed over by a tiny ball of fuzz.

He blinked up at the den, waiting for her to emerge. He felt Hollykit sit down beside him, her confusion causing her to remain silent.

It wasn't long until two cats came out of the den, each equally flustered.

Firestar rushed over to Sandstorm who was outside the warriors den, and Sorreltail headed over to Rainwhisker, her brother.

Hollykit and Icekit exchanged a glance. Understanding passed between them, so that when they got up it was in perfect sync. Together they padded over to Sorreltail who was speaking softly and heavily to Rainwhisker in quick, separated segments.

"I couldn't warn her fast enough. The entryway closed so quickly; I-I couldn't stop it."

"What happened?" Hollykit piped up from behind Sorreltail; her tiny mew was confused and curious.

Sorreltail turned around and let her heavy gaze fall on the two kits. She looked at Hollykit for a long time, but switched her gaze to Icekit when she answered.

"Leafpaw was taken," she answered, her eyes never leaving his for a second, "by Twolegs."

…

**And on that note, the end! **

**So, the question I want to ask is….How often should I put in the Allegiances?**

**I know they help me keep track of who's alive and who's in StarClan, but I don't want so many there that it's annoying. Please respond if you have an idea of how often to put them in.**

**Thanks for reading. 8D **


	5. Dawn 3

**Well this one didn't take nearly as long, did it? Hopefully, there will be no more 5 month gaps between updates. I'm going to try to update at least once every month, so we'll see how well that goes. **

**Also, the story is mainly going to focus on Bakura/Icekit, so there won't be many times when the Yugioh characters are brought in, unless it is important. All of the Yugioh characters except for Marik, Ryou, and Ishizu think that Bakura and Melvin are gone forever and are happy about that, so they aren't really involved in the story. However, the Yugioh characters that are in this story will start filtering in starting in this book. Three guesses who's first. 8D**

…

The wind was powerful. It whipped through Icekit's fur as he wandered around Thunderclan territory with no real idea where he was going. Every tree looked exactly the same as the last and there was no sign of a clearing or an oddly shaped tree that could serve as a landmark to him anywhere.

A twig snapped.

Icekit whipped around; his heart was racing and his eyes were wide with fear. He had been caught!

_Don't panic, just act natural._

He glanced at the ground, trying to become as invisible as his white fur and current whereabouts would allow, and that's when he spotted the twig beneath his own paw.

"Tsk," he mumbled furiously. Why was he being so jumpy? It's not like he cared if he was caught out of camp, so why was he-?

"Icekit?"

_Crap._ It was just his luck that he would be caught right after he had yelled at himself for being to cautious.

"Icekit, is that you?"

A cat he couldn't name, but he had seen following her mentor, Brackenfur, around camp sometimes stood a few yards away on top of a small hill that protruded from the ground awkwardly. Her white fur was slightly shorter than his own and it ruffled soundlessly in the breeze. Her green eyes blinked down at him curiously, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah," he responded, his voice cold, "What of it?"

"You know you're not supposed to leave camp." It wasn't a question. She knew that he was well aware of the rules.

"Excuse me for being bored."

She padded over to him slowly, but before she could say anything Icekit cut her off.

"Besides," he continued, "Aren't you still an apprentice? You're not allowed out of camp alone either."

She flinched. "I um, well I, ah…um, I-I'm out hunting. My mentor sent me."

Icekit looked at her skeptically. "You're a terrible liar."

"I know," she sighed.

The corner of Icekit's mouth twitched, but he refused to form a full smile. "So what _are_ you doing out here?"

She blinked at him. Her eyes darkened and she looked away, sadness evident in her features. Suddenly Icekit remembered that her parents were Cloudtail and Brightheart, the two cats that had gone missing the day before Larchkit died.

"Never mind, I-."

"I just can't stop looking for them," she said sadly, looking up at the sky. "I know I shouldn't, but I can't just sit around and wait."

Icekit looked at her, but didn't respond. Instead, he turned away and started walking back towards Sunningrocks, which had become the new camp after construction workers had gotten too close to the old camp.

His sudden movement jolted the white she-cat out of her thoughts; she turned to face him. "Where are you going?"

"Back," he answered shortly. "There's nothing to be found out here." _ Crap._

Realization snapped in the she-cat's eyes. "Were you looking for Leafpaw?"

_Crap._

"Is that why you were out here?"

_Crap._ "No."

"We could look together, if you like."

"Look, I wasn't looking for Leafpaw. I only came out here because I was bored, so just drop it. I'm going back."

She smiled. "You're not a very good liar either."

_Wrong._ He was a wonderful liar and he knew it.

"Whatever you say," Icekit responded dismissively. He turned away from the still-smiling she-cat and walked away. After a moment's hesitation, he heard her padding after him.

…

"There's something going on in the camp," the she-cat commented curiously as they came within viewing distance of Sunningrocks. She paused and sniffed the air. After a few seconds that were spent blinking with confusion, a look of pure shock and excitement passed over her face.

"What is it?" Icekit asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"I smell Squirrelpaw!"

_Squirrelpaw?_ His gaze switched from mildly curious to extremely skeptical. "You're crazy. Squirrelpaw's dead."

"I'm not!" she protested. "Can't you smell it?"

"No."

"Well I can! She's there; I know it."

The she-cat took off down the hill with no concern as to whether Icekit was following her or not, but he did follow, not out of curiosity, but out of doubt.

When he reached the makeshift camp, the she-cat had already disappeared among the swarm of cats that were gathered in a more open area of Sunningrocks.

Icekit ducked around legs and tails until he popped out next to Ferncloud, who had Hollykit sheltered between her front legs, and there she was, Squirrelpaw.

Brambleclaw was beside her with his pelt pressed into hers for comfort. Close behind them was a gray tom that resembled Graystripe. He must have been one of Graystripe's missing kits from Riverclan. A few other cats were dotted around them such as Ashfur, one of his uncles, the white she-cat from earlier, and Shrewpaw, another apprentice who had brown, fluffed up fur.

"So? Where did you go?" growled Frostfur from the gully above them.

For the first time Icekit noticed the hostility in everyone's gaze.

"We've been on a long journey," Brambleclaw began.

"You don't look like it!" Ferncloud had pushed her way to the front, and Icekit had followed her, taking Hollykit's place between her front legs. "You look better fed than us."

Squirrelpaw looked guilty. "Ferncloud, I heard about Larchkit, and I'm sorry…."

Icekit felt Ferncloud's eyes narrow at the mention of her daughter. "How do we know you didn't just desert the clan because you couldn't face a hungry leaf-bare with the rest of us?" she hissed, and Icekit couldn't help but agree.

There had been less and less food every day. He always got some since he was a kit, but some nights he still went to sleep with a growling stomach. He could cope with it easier than most of the cats since he had grown up with little food as a human too, but he could see the effects of hunger on the other cats that surrounded him at camp.

Squirrelpaw, however, clearly did not agree with Ferncloud. "How could you think such a thing?" she spat, her fur bristling furiously.

"Well, your loyalty clearly lies outside the Clan!" growled Mousefur, staring at the gray tom behind Squirrelpaw.

"Our loyalty has always been to the Clan, that's why we left," Brambleclaw replied without flinching.

"Then what's a Riverclan warrior doing with you?" Dustpelt demanded from somewhere in the back of the crowd.

"He has some news for Graystripe," Brambleclaw replied. "He'll leave once he's spoken to him."

Icekit switched his attention to the gray tom that they were referring to. His head was bowed lower than it should be, and his eyes were dull and lifeless. He knew that look too well to mistake it for anything else, the look of losing someone, someone the gray tom had loved.

"He'll leave now," Mousefur hissed, taking a step forward.

Icekit felt his eyes narrow at her threat instinctively, but he returned to his blank stare almost instantly.

Cinderpelt stepped in between Brambleclaw and Mousefur. "Tell them about StarClan's prophecy," she urged.

Icekit sighed. Of course, it always came back to StarClan. The mere mention of the imaginary place caused him to instantly lose any interest he had in what was going on.

He turned around and weaved his way back to Hollykit who was still sitting outside the makeshift nursery.

"What happened?" she asked as she stood beside him and followed him into the nursery. "I couldn't hear anything back here."

"Why didn't you come to the front then?"

She shrugged weakly. "I don't know; I guess I was just tired.

Icekit blinked at her, but didn't press. "Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw came back with one of Graystripe's kits," he began simply. "No one's too happy about it because they abandoned the Clan, but it's alright because StarClan sent them." The last line was laced with sarcasm, but Hollykit didn't seem to notice.

"I wonder where they went," she noted softly. "It must be terrifying to be so far from camp."

"It would be more interesting than just sitting here," Icekit argued.

Hollykit just blinked.

…

"Hollykit! Icekit! Where are you?" Ferncloud cried with a twinge of panic in her voice.

Icekit raised his head just as Ferncloud appeared from behind a rock. Her eyes softened with relief at the sight of her kits.

"Firestar's called a clan meeting," she mewed briskly. "You want to hear, right?"

Icekit was already in the clearing.

Firestar was standing on top of one of the larger rocks in his typical, proud manor, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes. Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw sat at the front of the crowd next to Graystripe who had his head bowed in sorrow.

Cats were gathered in the clearing with wide, curious eyes that begged Firestar to start speaking.

"As you all know," Firestar began slowly, choosing his words carefully. "We have been facing troubling times in Thunderclan. We have had little hunting results and are slowly starving in our own home. Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw have returned from their journey with a message from StarClan."

Firestar paused, debating his next words. Icekit could see him tense up right before he spoke as if anticipating their reaction.

"We have to leave the forest."

At first there was only silence, but it only took a few seconds for the information to register and for the cries of outrage and shock to start.

"We can't leave the forest!" Frostfur wailed, "We'll all die."

_Yes, because staying here and starving to death defiantly won't kill us._

"We'll die if we stay!" Sorreltail pointed out loudly.

_At least some of these cats are halfway intelligent. _

"But this is our home," Speckletail rasped, her voice cracking as she raised it.

Individual voices died out amongst the mesh of protests and arguments.

"When are we going?" asked a voice behind him brightly. Shrewpaw's eyes were bright and excited at the prospect of a journey.

"We don't have to go, do we?" Hollykit's pitiful cry rang out around the clearing. She was staring at her brother like he was insane for wanting to leave the forest.

"Of course we do," Icekit pointed out, drawing Hollykit's attention away from Shrewpaw. "We'll all starve to death if we don't; those humans obviously have no intention of leaving."

Hollykit blinked at him. "Humans?"

_Crap._ He felt the eyes of all the cats around him boring into him accusingly. Cinderpelt in particular was looking at him in a way that did not look good at all.

"Two-legs," he corrected himself swiftly before turning away and heading right into the nursery before anyone could attack him with more questions. As he left he could feel Hollykit's eyes digging into him and he knew that the issue was definitely not over.

_Idiot_, he cursed himself. He wouldn't make another stupid mistake.

…

"I didn't think that you of all cats would let me down."

Icekit looked up just as Squirrelpaw's dark ginger tail disappeared into the trees. Brambleclaw was left standing where she had been just seconds before, his expression confused, and hurt, and maybe a little angry. He sighed and padded over to another cat that Icekit didn't have a name for.

His ears perked with curiosity. He stood and followed Squirrelpaw out of the camp, keeping low to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

He followed her scent through the woods until he could hear voices coming from just over a hill. He crept closer until he could make the words out.

"I will," he heard Sorreltail mew sadly. "I couldn't stop the Two-legs from taking Leafpaw, but I'd do anything to help her now."

Icekit stopped, his eyes wide. _What about Leafpaw?_ He crept closer so he could hear the she-cats more clearly.

"Do you mean it?" That was Squirrelpaw.

"Of course!"

"Come on, then!" Squirrelpaw yowled. "Let's go!"

The two she-cats darted off into the trees in the direction of the abandoned camp. Icekit stood there a moment, the realization of what they were doing still etched on his face. They were going to rescue Leafpaw.

He followed them into the trees.

…

**Yay! Another chapter done!**

**I've decided to do the Allegiances every third book, so there will be one at the beginning of Starlight, but I'm not going to post the Allegiances until I also have an actual chapter to post, so it won't get anyone's hopes up for nothing.**

**Thanks for reading. 8D **


	6. Dawn 4

_It wasn't supposed to turn out like this._

Icekit let out an instinctive cry as his body slammed into the back of the trunk and promptly fell to the floor in a heap. He ignored the pain in his right shoulder, which had hit the wall hardest, and leapt to his paws with a furious hiss just as a thick gray mass of fur was thrust in beside him and the trunk door slammed shut.

The long-haired gray tom, who turned out to be the deputy, Graystripe, launched himself up at the window on the door of the trunk in a vain attempt at escaping.

"That's not going to work," Icekit growled irritably as he sat down and attempted to massage his shoulder.

Graystripe turned on him, still furious, but his eyes softened into mild annoyance when he caught sight of the kit's injury and the blood on his flank. Graystripe starred at the kit like he didn't know what to say to him, but he ended up just sighing and turning away.

"I won't scold you for your stupidity," Graystripe finally said simply. "But I hope that you recognize how much Ferncloud is going to hurt when you don't come back; she's already lost Larchkit."

For some reason the proclamation stung Icekit in a way that he didn't understand and couldn't remember ever feeling. He glared at Graystripe for as long as he could hold his stare then looked away furiously when the deputy didn't break eye contact.

He turned away and sat down in a far corner of the trunk, eyeing Graystripe every so often to see if his endless waves of disappointment that were shooting off of him had subsided.

They didn't say anything when the car jerked to a start and pulled away from the forest. Graystripe didn't try to look out of the window anymore; there was no point.

Icekit curled up in his corner and closed his eyes, begging for sleep to take him, and eventually it did.

…

His dreams were raked with images of the previous day's fight.

He had hidden in the bushes while Graystripe had explained his plan to the small group of cats that had joined Squirrelpaw and Sorreltail. After they had begun their assault, Icekit followed them.

At first no one had even noticed the small kit as he slashed and bit at the humans' ankles since they were caught up in their own tasks, but eventually Brambleclaw saw him.

His shout had blended together with all of the other sounds of the fight, but it still stuck out just enough to distract Icekit for the half a second it took for the human to grab him.

He couldn't tell if the other cats had escaped after that, and frankly, he didn't care. He liked to think he never cared at all and had just wanted something to do, but he had cared, if only a little. However, that tiny sliver of caring had vanished instantly when he hit the back of the trunk and the door had slammed in his face. All he cared about now was getting out.

…

A loud honk erupted from the truck as one of the humans unlocked it for the new day waking Icekit from his dreams.

There was no way to determine how far they had traveled, but Icekit assumed that it wasn't far because it had been late when this whole thing had started, so the humans couldn't have gotten far before having to sleep.

Icekit blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He was still in the gray-blue trunk and Graystripe was still in his same position blinking himself awake the same way Icekit was. Icekit glanced through the window that only showed him the sky and recognized the pinks and yellows of sunrise among the clouds.

"Hey, you've gotta feed the little fur balls before we go."

Icekit's ears pricked as he heard one of the workers speak. He hadn't really recognized it in the battle, but it seemed like he could still understand humans. Although, that ability was virtually useless since he had no way of talking back.

Icekit glanced over at Graystripe who was now fully awake. The deputy was glancing around the trunk rapidly; maybe he was trying to figure a way out, but Icekit couldn't tell. Even if Graystripe was trying to figure something out it was useless, there was no way out of-

"Why do I have to feed them?" the other worker complained loudly.

Icekit rushed over to Graystripe and nudged him out of his frantic searching. The gray tom blinked at the kit curiously. "What is it?"

"They're going to have to open the trunk to feed us!"

Graystripe tilted his head curiously. "How do you know?"

"It's just logical," he explained angrily. "The only way in is through the trunk door, and they have to feed us, so when they do…" He waited for Graystripe to finish his thought, but was sorely disappointed.

"I don't understand. Trunk? Door? What does that even mean?"

Icekit hissed furiously at the clueless deputy. "Does that really matter right now?" he growled. "The trunk door is what I'm calling what the two-legs threw us through. Any second now they're going to open it and we can get out!"

For a second Graystripe's eyes lit up, but the light died almost instantly. "There's no way," he said, shaking his head. "They'll never open it wide enough for me to get out fast enough."

Icekit looked away; Graystripe was right. Even though the two humans seemed like complete morons, they couldn't be that stupid.

"Look, just go feed the stupid cats, we have to go!"

Icekit hadn't realized that the two workers had still been arguing while he and Graystripe had been talking.

"Fine, whatever."

Icekit looked at the door, but made no move to run.

"What are you doing?" Graystripe snapped. Icekit turned to look at him and was surprised to find rage in the deputy's eyes. "You're still getting out of here."

Icekit blinked at him; he hadn't expected this. If he had been in the opposite position he never would have let Graystripe leave without him.

"Get ready," the deputy commanded, poised to pounce. "I'll get his hand while you escape, and I'll follow you if I can." He didn't seem very convinced that that would be the case. "Once you get out do not stop running, got it?"

Icekit nodded, mirroring Graystripe's position; this would be their only chance to escape.

The trunk door opened slowly and cautiously. Icekit blinked. Guess he wasn't stupid enough to let them both out, pity.

When the food bowl started to appear on their side of the trunk door, Graystripe launched himself at the worker's hand. The man cried out in pain as Icekit made a mad dash to the exit. He slid out without hesitating and jumped to the ground in a small garage for storing the animal control trucks. Icekit located the exit to the garage without slowing down and sprinted towards it. He could hear one of the workers chasing him, but he couldn't tell which one it was. It didn't really matter. In a second neither of the workers were chasing him; he had made it outside.

At first all the sounds and smells overwhelmed the small tom, but he forced himself to keep running. He ran until his lungs burned and all that he could do was collapse under a bush in some lady's yard. He didn't want to sleep yet, but he was exhausted, so he closed his eyes for only a second.

…

When he opened them again it was after noon and the old lady who lived in the house had come outside to stitch a blue scarf that was only going to be big enough for a three year old girl.

Icekit stretched himself out and snuck out of the lady's lawn as silent as a mouse. He looked left and right at the seemingly endless mass of houses surrounding him; he had no idea how to get back to the forest, so he picked a direction and traveled that way until he was sure he was incorrect, and then he would turn and head another.

The cycle became tedious quickly and soon it was nearly nightfall and he was crouched under another bush.

"What are you doing out of your house little guy?"

Icekit jumped at the voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

"Are you alright?"

A plump black and white tom landed next to him after a not-so-graceful jump from the fence above.

Icekit glared at him. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Now go away."

The tom blinked at him. "Shouldn't you be getting back to your housefolk? It's going to be dark soon."

Icekit rolled his eyes. "I don't _have_ any housefolk, whatever they are, so I would appreciate it if you just let me get some sleep so I can find the forest tomorrow."

The tom's expression didn't change. "Are you one of those wild cats that live in the forest?"

"Did I not just say to- Wait, you know about the forest?"

"Yeah, I know about them. My old friend, Rusty, joined them a long time ago. The forest is right next to my garden." The tom nodded at Icekit, whose eyes were wide with the shock of discovering something useful in the overweight mound of fur.

"Well, then take me there," Icekit commanded, breaking out of his daze.

"Alright," the tom agreed before padding off down the street.

Icekit followed him, but tuned out his constant remarks on how his house was 'just over the hill' and 'just one more block away' until they finally reached their destination.

"There you go," the tom mewed, smiling at his accomplishment.

"Yeah," Icekit responded quietly. He mumbled a nearly silent 'thanks' that he was surprised he even knew how to say and sprinted off into the woods.

Once he was in the forest it wasn't difficult to navigate Thunderclan territory. He got momentarily lost because he had only left camp three times, but eventually he made it to Sunningrocks. There was an odd scent in the air somewhere around him, but he chose to ignore it.

He just stood there and gazed at the entrance to the makeshift camp for a long time wondering what the other cats would ask him, and what answers he could give that wouldn't give him away. However, he managed to push the thoughts out of his mind. He took a deep breath and walked through the camp's entrance; whatever happened now, he could handle it.

…

**I've successfully updated the story when I promised! Granted, it's 11:15 at night on the day I was supposed to update, but it's still done, right?**

**Yes, this one's shorter, but they can't all be the same length. Hopefully I will be updating this story on the first of every month at least, so unless I enjoy writing the next chapter, which is possible, the next chapter will be up on June 1.**

**Thanks for reading. 8D**


	7. Dawn 5

Leafpaw closed her eyes as she tried to drown out Ferncloud's quiet sobs that echoed against the rocks so that the whole clan knew of her pain.

She had lost so much in so little time. Icekit had been taken by two-legs along with Graystripe in the attempt to free the captured cats, herself included. She couldn't help but feel responsible for the whole thing; everything would have been different if she hadn't been captured. Hollykit had died the morning after Icekit was taken, leaving Ferncloud with no kits left in her second litter. Shrewpaw's death had only made it worse. He had been hit by a monster in the head while hunting for the clan and had died instantly.

Leafpaw opened her eyes and looked across Sunningrocks at the sobbing queen sympathetically. Spiderpaw, her last remaining kit, was curled up beside his mother trying to offer as much comfort as he could. Dustpelt was on her other side, licking her gray fur softly. Cody, a kittypet that had also been rescued from the two-legs, had been with her earlier, but had left once Dustpelt and Spiderpaw came.

She looked away before shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She looked around the camp at all of the starving members of her clan and lowered her head in defeat. It wasn't just Ferncloud who was suffering anymore; everyone was slowly starving to death in the clan territories.

_Maybe we will have to leave._

…

Squirrelpaw padded into camp and dropped her pathetically small mouse onto the fresh kill pile that contained only a sparrow and a vole that the dawn patrol had caught. Sorreltail followed her into camp, looking downcast that she had failed to catch anything on their patrol.

"Take that straight to the elders," Firestar meowed, padding over to them.

"What about Ferncloud?" Squirrelpaw asked even though she already knew the answer.

"She's still not eating," Firestar sighed. "Cody was trying to coax her earlier, but no luck."

"That kittypet should go back to her Two-legs and stop eating our fresh kill," Sorreltail commented irritably. "She's no good for hunting."

"Cody takes hardly anything for herself," Firestar pointed out. "And she takes care of Ferncloud, which is exactly what we need right now."

Squirrelflight glanced at Sorreltail sympathetically. She didn't really seem to care that Cody was a kittypet, but the fact that she and Leafpaw had become friends certainly did.

The ginger apprentice picked up her mouse and carried it over to where the elders were trying to make use of the heat that Sunningrocks provided during the day. Frostfur and Speckletail were dosing, but Longtail, a younger cat who had been forced to join the elders because of an eye injury, sat up as she approached. "I smell mouse," he meowed.

"It's not very big, I'm afraid," Squirrelpaw apologized, setting the mouse down in front of the pale elder.

"It's fine," Longtail assured her. He prodded at the mouse, and his eyes lit up as its tiny body shifted, as if the desire to hunt had not left him.

Suddenly, he lifted his head and opened his mouth to scent the air. "Windclan," he exclaimed, more in surprise than alarm.

"What, here?" Squirrelpaw mewed, searching the clearing rapidly. When she found nothing, she turned back to Longtail who was still sniffing the air.

"There's something else." He sniffed the air again then closed his eyes to search through all of the scents he knew.

Squirrelpaw actually jumped when his sightless eyes flashed open so brightly that it was almost blinding.

"What? What is it?" she begged, jumping up and down with excitement.

"It's Icekit!" he exclaimed. "I smell Icekit!"

…

As soon as Icekit entered the camp he was engulfed in a flurry of pelts. Gray, tabby, and tortoiseshell fur swarmed around him, every cat talking at the same time so rapidly that it made him dizzy. However, everyone fell silent when one pale gray pelt with darker flecks sprinted over; purring so loudly that Icekit was sure Windclan could hear her.

"You're safe," Ferncloud purred breathlessly. "Oh, thank StarClan you're safe."

For once, Icekit didn't shy away at the mention of StarClan.

He scanned the clearing as well as he could with cats blocking his view from all sides, but he managed to lock eyes with Firestar. The leaders eyes were digging into him, and the question he didn't dare ask was evident on his face. _Graystripe?_ Icekit gave him a tiny shake of his head before looking away, not wanting to see the leader's reaction.

"Icekit!"

For a second he thought it was Hollykit who was calling to him, but instead he saw Leafpaw running towards him. _Hollykit must be in the nursery. _ She didn't lick him or rub up against him like some of the other cats had, but her expression gave away how concerned she had been about him.

It took Icekit a second to realize that all the cats that had surrounded him before had vanished except for Ferncloud and Leafpaw. Even Dustpelt, who was supposed to be his father, was gone.

It wasn't difficult to locate the mass of cats that surrounded four cats who Icekit had never seen before. _They must be from one of the other clans._

"I don't care that we haven't had another sign," the elderly black tom with a long tail was saying to Firestar. "I just know that we have to leave." He looked exhausted, like he could die any second. "Take us to the sun-drown place, I beg you."

Ferncloud was still purring softly as she groomed her son's ruffled fur, but Icekit was no longer paying attention to her. He was too focused on Firestar and the black and white tom. _Are we finally going to leave?_

"We have been allies many times," Firestar finally replied. "And to watch you suffer is more than I can bear." He lifted his head and stared into the forest, thinking.

Icekit followed his gaze just as a tortoiseshell she-cat erupted out of the forest from the very spot where Firestar had been looking. The she-cat's fur was fluffed up and her eyes were wild with fear.

"The two-legs are attacking our camp!" she yelled franticly. "They've surrounded us with their monsters! Please come!"

Firestar bounded towards her followed by most of the clan and the four cats from a different clan. It only took the leader a moment to calm the she-cat's nerves, agree to help Shadowclan, and have three patrols set up who were ready to help. He dived into the forest with almost all of Thunderclan racing behind him.

Icekit watched them disappear then looked around at the nearly empty camp. Ferncloud was still sitting beside him, and Goldenflower's head was poking out of the makeshift nursery. Other than the queens, the elders, and Cinderpelt the only other cat left in camp was Whitepaw, the white she-cat who he had met right after Leafpaw had disappeared.

She was pacing back and forth across the rocks, her green eyes wide with anxiety. She kept glancing at the spot in the forest where everyone had disappeared.

Icekit turned away from the apprentice and looked back at Goldenflower who had come outside to bask in the sun along with the elders. Icekit narrowed his eyes. He had thought that she was watching Hollykit, but apparently not.

He stood up and padded over to the nursery, ignoring Ferncloud's surprised meow. He didn't hesitate when he rounded the corner; however, he did jump slightly when he nearly crashed into a tabby she-cat who was inside the den.

"Oh!" she gasped, taking a step back. "I'm sorry."

Icekit ignored her and scanned the den; it was empty.

He turned back to the tabby she-cat who was looking at him with, was that pity?

"Where's Hollykit?" Icekit demanded.

The she-cat just looked at him. "I'm so sorry," she began, but Icekit didn't want to hear it. He brushed past her back into the clearing; Ferncloud was waiting outside.

"Icekit, I-"

He brushed past her too.

Weaving around rocks of various sizes, he made his way to the edge of Sunningrocks and disappeared into the forest. It didn't take him long to realize that someone was following him.

He stopped and turned around ready to face Ferncloud or the tabby she-cat, but instead it was Whitepaw's green eyes that met his.

She skidded to a stop and looked down at the white kit carefully.

Icekit glared at her. "Whatever you're going to say, I don't want to hear it."

She blinked at him. "I wasn't going to say anything."

He stared at her for a second then turned away. "Then why did you come?" he asked with no actual interest in his question as he started forward in a random direction.

"I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to you."

He whipped around furiously. "I can take care of myself!" he spat.

Whitepaw didn't flinch, but she lowered her eyes slightly. "I'm sure Shrewpaw thought that too."

"What does Shrewpaw have to do with anything?" he growled.

Whitepaw raised her head slightly and locked eyes with him sadly. "That's right," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "You still don't know."

"Know what?"

She opened her eyes and stared at him again. Icekit was getting really fed up with her and was about to just leave her there when she spoke.

"Shrewpaw's dead," she said solemnly. "He was hit by a two-leg monster while hunting for the clan."

"Well, I'm not Shrewpaw and I'm not hunting."

This time Whitepaw did flinch. "You don't care?"

"No."

Icekit left her standing there, the shock off what he had said still etched on her face. As soon as he was out of sight he started running. She was going to follow him; he knew she would, and he needed to be as far away as physically possible when she did.

He hadn't lied. He really hadn't cared that Shrewpaw had died; after all, he had only ever spoken to him once. He shouldn't care about any of these cats, but… He felt his chest tighten and forced himself to run faster. Hollykit… He shook his head franticly as he ran away, away from all of them.

He skidded to a stop as he reached the old Thunderclan camp. The workers were closer to camp then they were before, but not close enough to make it impossible to be there. He went into the medicine cat den and curled up in the back corner.

He was so annoyed. He shouldn't care about anyone but himself; he didn't think that he _did_ care about anyone else, but Hollykit, for some reason he had cared about her. Why? Why had he cared about her? Was it because of Ayame?

Icekit sat up. Yes, that had to be it. Hollykit had always reminded him of Ayame, ever since he had first spoken to her after Larchkit died. The realization of that made him feel a lot better. He had only ever truly cared about two people, and one of them was himself. He just didn't see the point. They were all just going to die anyway, so why get attached? Sure, there had been Ryou and Marik who he had worked with, but he had only protected them to protect himself; he had never protected them because he cared about what happened to them.

He shook himself off and padded out of camp back towards Sunningrocks. Ferncloud was probably frantic right now, and Whitepaw might be too. Both of them cared too much; everyone cared too much.

…

The sun sank down among thin clouds as the Thunderclan warriors led all of Shadowclan towards Sunningrocks. Their camp had been completely destroyed and Firestar had lost a life trying to protect one of Tallpoppy's kits. The kit had survived, but Firestar was still weak from his lost life.

"Tallpoppy?" Leafpaw mewed to the limping Shadowclan queen as she matched her pace. "Are your kits alright?"

She nodded gazing at her three kits that were now being carried by warriors. "Just scratches," she murmured.

"We can clean them and treat them with marigold when we get to Sunningrocks," Leafpaw promised.

Leafpaw glanced at Brackenfur who was carrying one of Tallpoppy's kits, a spiky furred, dusty brown tom with deep blue eyes. Leafpaw blinked. A dusty brown kit with blue eyes. Her mind flashed back to the nightmare that she had dreamed so long ago. She hadn't been thinking about it at all; she hadn't wanted to think about it, but this kit, this had to be the tom from her dream. She had to get away before he noticed her.

She ran up to Squirrelpaw, acting like she had just wanted to catch up to her sister, but didn't say anything. Her sister glanced at her curiously, but didn't ask.

"How did it go?" Whitepaw's voice startled Leafpaw; she hadn't realized how close they were to Sunningrocks.

"You're alive!" Cody rushed over to her and pressed her muzzle to Leafpaw's.

Leafpaw didn't respond; there were so many cats at Sunningrocks, and they were all talking so rapidly that she couldn't make heads or tails of it. All that she registered was that all of Thunderclan was here except Icekit and Ferncloud. "Oh, no," she whispered, heading towards the nursery.

"You can't keep leaving like this, Icekit!"

Leafpaw breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Ferncloud scolding a small, very angry looking white kit in the corner of the den.

…

Icekit rolled his eyes at his mother and, in the proses, noticed Leafpaw at the edge of the den. "Oh," he mewed, diverting Ferncloud's attention to Leafpaw. "You're back."

She nodded. "Yes, everyone is. You both should come out; Shadowclan is here too."

"Just a moment," Ferncloud answered, still angry. "I'm not done- Icekit!"

Icekit glanced back at her from outside of the den and smirked before heading over to the mass of cats gathered around Sunningrocks. His attention was drawn by a group of kits where one dusty brown tom was wrestling with a mottled brown she-cat. Their tiny kit claws were out, but no one looked injured.

As he was watching their play fight the dusty brown tom noticed him. He said something to the she-cat, and they both stopped fighting and padded over to him.

"You can play too, if you like," the she-cat offered kindly.

"No thanks," Icekit replied shortly. "I don't want to _play_ anything with stupid, immature kits like you."

The she-cat looked shocked and offended, but the tom's reaction was much different. His eyes flickered and he smiled.

"Forget him, Applekit," the tom meowed, still grinning. "Go ask if Marshkit will play with you; I'll come back in a second."

Applekit shot Icekit one last hostile glance and then went back over to the other kits.

Then they were alone.

The dusty brown tom's grin grew larger and creepier the longer the two kits stared at each other.

"What on earth are you so happy about?" Icekit spat, finally breaking the silence.

"Why, seeing you of course," the tom grinned, taking a step closer to Icekit.

Icekit took a step back and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The tom tilted his head to the side and frowned in a way that would have been cute if it wasn't for the situation. "You mean you don't remember me?" the tom frowned, blinking at Icekit with fake sadness in his eyes. "I certainly remember you."

He leaned in so that his mouth was right next to Icekit's ear.

"Bakura."

Icekit took a step back away from the tom, his eyes wide with disbelief. He had known that something was wrong with this kit, but he hadn't considered for even a moment that someone else could be here, someone he had known before. The smile had been so familiar and now he knew why.

"Melvin."


	8. Dawn 6

_Melvin?_

Leafpaw stopped walking over to the Shadowclan cats and glanced back at the source of the sound. With a sinking feeling, she recognized the kit from her nightmare smirking at Icekit whose eyes were wide with surprise.

She shuddered at the familiarity in both of their gazes.

"Leafpaw, are you coming?"

She tore her eyes away from the two kits and hurried over to Littlecloud who was waiting for the salve that Runningnose needed.

"Sorry," she apologized after setting the herbs at his paws. She glanced back at the two kits and found Icekit's cold, amber eyes digging into her own accusingly; she returned her gaze to Littlecloud instantly, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. He had followed her gaze over to the kits and he shuddered when his eyes found the dusty brown kit. Leafpaw didn't even have enough time to force her fur to lay flat before Littlecloud returned his attention to her. His typically gentle expression was hard and serious.

He stared into her eyes for a while trying to decide if he should do something, before he finally decided that it was the right thing to do.

"Have you had any…odd dreams lately?"

Leafpaw blinked at him in shock and shot a quick glance at the dusty brown kit before returning her eyes to Littlecloud and nodding slowly.

"I thought so," he continued. "Have you-?"

"What are you two talking about?"

Leafpaw flinched. She turned around slowly to find Icekit glaring at her with cold eyes.

"You keep looking over at Dustkit and I; are we doing something wrong?" His tone had lightened, but his expression remained icy cold.

_Dustkit…_

"We were just saying how well you two seemed to get along since you've only just met," Littlecloud responded smoothly, smiling.

Icekit's eyes narrowed. "I don't see how that's any of your concern," he snapped.

To Leafpaw's surprise Littlecloud didn't seem fazed at all by Icekit's harshness. Although, he did live with Shadowclan.

"Sorry," he apologized earnestly.

The apology didn't seem to satisfy Icekit, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he padded towards the make-shift nursery straight past Dustkit, flashing the brown kit a glare so hostile it could kill, to which the kit responded with a half crazy half happy grin, and disappeared into the den.

_Well, Littlecloud was wrong about one thing, _she thought, a smile reforming on her face._ They certainly aren't friends._

…

"Stupid!" Icekit hissed furiously as he clawed at the side of the make-shift nursery causing bits of leaves and twigs to fall on him, coating his fur. He shook the debris off violently, still fuming from his encounter with Melvin.

He flexed his tiny claws and glared at the ground. Melvin's appearance had a decent chance of getting him discovered, and who knew what these cats would do if they realized a two-leg was a member of their clan.

_Why did I say his name?_ Icekit asked himself angrily as he paced around the den.

The most frustrating thing about the whole situation was that he hadn't been able to do anything to him! If he had attacked the dusty kit then he would never be trusted by any cat again, especially if he had killed him, which was his first instinct. Plus, there was no way to avoid him now that Shadowclan was staying with Thunderclan.

Then he would just have to stay in here until Shadowclan left. Except, Icekit had no idea when they were leaving.

He sat down. His frustration with of all of this didn't seem to have any rational solution, and even though he tried to think of one until the moon was bright in the center of the sky and idea still would not come to him.

"We will leave at dawn!"

Icekit snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Firestar's yowl. He peered out into the clearing as cheers of approval rang out from each clan's separate huddle.

He blinked in confusion at the scene. _We leave at dawn? Did the other clans finally agree to leave?_

"Where will we go?" one of the Windclan cats, a tabby tom, asked loudly. The question echoed around the rocks as the other cats began to wonder the same thing.

Icekit followed Firestar's questioning gaze over to Brambleclaw, who looked down at his paws. He had no answer for their question. Squirrelpaw, who was standing beside him, pressed her pelt into his comfortingly.

"As you know," the tabby warrior began slowly. "Midnight's sign never came." He looked so lost and unconfident, but he forced himself to continue. "So we don't know exactly where we should go. But we could head towards the sun-drown-place."

_The sun drown place?_ Icekit had heard the term whispered around camp since Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw got back, but he still had no real idea where it was.

"If there's been no sign before we get there, we could find Midnight again and ask her," Squirrelpaw added.

Icekit glanced away from the conversation and rolled his eyes. _Well at least they have a backup plan for when their precious Starclan doesn't follow through._ He turned around and headed back into the nursery; he had all of the information he needed.

He curled up in the back of the make-shift den and let out a huge yawn. It had been a very long day. His ears pricked as he heard leaves rustling as someone entered the den. His muscles tensed, but he didn't turn around. However, they relaxed when it was Ferncloud's soft purr that greeted him.

"You must be so exhausted," she meowed kindly as she gently cleaned his dirty white fur with her rough tongue.

He was. Everything had seemed to go by in a blur that day. Coming back to Thunderclan, humans attacking Shadowclan, finding out about Hollykit, seeing Melvin, and the other clans agreeing to finally leave the forest, all of it had happened so fast.

Icekit felt himself drifting off, but he didn't resist it. Instead, he let Ferncloud's soft purr and gentle tongue lull him to sleep.

…

When he woke up, he was soaked down to the skin. It was extremely cold, but apparently not cold enough to turn the large raindrops into soft snow. Ferncloud was licking him again, but it wasn't warming him up very much.

He stood up abruptly, but instead of jumping back like he thought she would, Ferncloud just looked at him with happiness and relief in her eyes. It wasn't hard to guess why; he had survived another night.

"Everyone's getting ready to leave," she commented as she made her way out of the den, the roof of which had disintegrated at some point in the night. The ground was covered in dead leaves.

Icekit shook off some of the water from his fur and followed her out of the den. She looked down at him kindly then giggled to herself at her son's fluffed up fur. She began licking it down gently just as Leafpaw and Cinderpelt looked over at them.

He planted a half bored, half annoyed expression on his face and looked back at them. He could see the apprentice trying not to grin. She seemed a lot less nervous and jumpy than she had been yesterday when he and Melvin had been talking. Her eyes seemed so full of life, and not even the rain could wash it away. She shot one last glance at the small white kit before hurrying off towards Firestar.

Cinderpelt padded over to the nursery as Icekit watched Leafpaw disappear over the hill.

Ferncloud and Cinderpelt's conversation didn't last very long. The medicine cat just wanted to make sure that both Ferncloud and Icekit were strong enough to make the journey and tell them that she and Leafpaw would be sending around traveling herbs soon.

"Traveling herbs?" Icekit asked Ferncloud after Cinderpelt had left.

"They make us stronger," she replied, and then her face fell as she glanced around at her broken clanmates. "We'll need it."

Icekit looked up at her. Her eyes were glazed with sadness and grief. She was looking over to an area of Sunningrocks where he had never been. In it there were two small mounds of dirt that looked too sad to mistake them for anything else.

_Hollykit…_

Icekit felt his chest tighten uncomfortably again, so he pulled his eyes away from the mounds and ended up finding Leafpaw's.

She was looking at him sympathetically from a little ways away. In her mouth were two leaf bundles, one fairly large one and one smaller one. They could only be the traveling herbs that Cinderpelt had mentioned earlier.

"Oh, are those ours?"

Ferncloud's attention had shifted back from her kit's graves to the current situation. Her eyes were still a little sad, but they were mostly filled with hope for a better future for her kits.

Leafpaw nodded and set the two bundles at the queen's paws.

"The smaller one is for Icekit; it's half a dose."

Ferncloud nodded gratefully, and Leafpaw hurried off to deliver the next bundles to the elders.

Icekit ate all of his own herbs even though it tasted horrible. All of it was necessary to make this journey, the journey that was about to begin.

…

**I'm really sorry I didn't update all summer. For some reason I can only write when I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork, so now that school's started again the chapters are back to being on the first of every month with the occasional bonus chapter if I feel like it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. 8D**


	9. Dawn 7

Although Icekit was ready to leave the second he finished his traveling herbs, things did not work out that way. Frostfur and Speckletail, the two oldest cats in the clan decided not to come because they didn't think they could make the journey. Also, the Riverclan medicine cat, Mudfur, had died, which had nearly postponed the journey an entire day, but somehow the clans managed to leave anyway. Unfortunately, before the cats had even left the forest something else put a stop to their trek.

"I want to go home!" one of Dustkit's siblings, the mottled brown one, mewed pitifully.

"We are going home," her mother promised. "Our new home."

Dustkit was about to say something when a tawny-colored cat emerged from the trees a little bit away from the group. Two Riverclan cats, a dappled golden she-cat and a brown tabby tom, padded over to her happily. The Riverclan cats seemed to know who she was, but most of Thunderclan had no idea what to make of her.

As it turns out, the Riverclan cats' names were Mothwing and Hawkfrost, and the tawny cat, Sasha, was their mother. Then everyone freaked out because some cat named Tigerstar was their father. Firestar had to calm them all down, and eventually everything died down. The encounter ended up causing nothing but more hostility between the cats.

All in all, Icekit was very bored with the exchange. He had no idea who any of the cats were, and the only name that left an impression on him was that of the cat that wasn't even there.

"Ferncloud, who's Tigerstar?" Icekit asked as the three clans moved in silence through the last area of forest before the moor. The queen looked down at her kit in shock and pain. The cats around them either glanced sympathetically at her or pretended that they hadn't heard.

Ferncloud sighed. "I should've known you would ask eventually," she commented to herself sadly before looking over at her kit. "He was just a very evil cat," she meowed solemnly. "He'd do anything to get to power." She shuddered.

Icekit waited a few seconds for her to go on, but she didn't say anything else. "Like...," Icekit prompted her impatiently.

"Like nothing, it doesn't matter anymore."

Icekit sighed; these cats would never tell her anything.

"Hey," a voice greeted from his side.

Icekit turned to find Dustkit grinning at him and sighed. _Why me?_

"I know all about Tigerstar," he said importantly. "Shadowclan talks about him all the time."

Icekit fought down his interest in what Dustkit was saying and rolled his eyes. "What makes you think I care?"

Dustkit grinned. "Come on, Bakura. Don't lie to me," he said cheerfully, without bothering to lower his voice.

Icekit turned on him, his eyes glittering dangerously. "Stop calling me that," he growled in a low whisper.

"Why not? That's your name, isn't it?" He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. Oh, we're trapped as cats and if they find out that we are Two-legs they'll probably drive us out, but let's still call each other by our human names, just to see if any cats will catch on. Dustkit's idiocy infuriated Icekit, but telling him that wasn't going to stop him; he had to change the subject.

"So, what do you know about Tigerstar?" It hurt his pride to back down, but cats were starting to eye them curiously.

Dustkit grinned in victory, causing Icekit's eyes to narrow furiously. "Well, first of all, he's the one who cause Cinderpelt's injury."

Icekit glanced behind him at the medicine cat, who was trying very hard not to show how much she was struggling to keep up, but her eyes weren't sad; they were determined.

He returned his gaze forward, but Dustkit wasn't finished. "He also killed the deputy, Redtail, Runningwind, Gorsepaw, and he tried to kill Firestar multiple times.

Icekit blinked at him, but didn't say anything.

"He led a pack of dogs to the forest which killed an apprentice named Swiftpaw and caused Brightheart's eye injury. He drove Bluestar, the leader before Firestar, insane, and she died driving out the dogs. He also forced a Thunderclan apprentice to flee for his life. Oh, and he killed Ferncloud's mother, Brindleface, to give the dogs a taste for cat blood."

Dustkit grinned and looked up at the sky before looking back at the ground, still smiling admiringly.

"I only hope," he added, his voice low, "that I can accomplish even more while I'm here."

Icekit looked at him uncomfortably, but kept his tone bored. "Doubtful, you're only a kit."

Dustkit glanced up at him and grinned. "That hasn't stopped me so far."

Icekit looked over at the tiny kit in shock and was about to sat something when, from the front of the group, Rainwhisker let out a yowl.

"Look!" he called as the cats neared the edge of the forest. On the rise that marked the beginning of the moor stood all of Windclan, standing as still as stones.

"Let's go," the large white tom withnhuge, jet-black paws ordered.

The Shadowclan cats obeyed instantly, but the Riverclan and Thunderclan cats lingered at the trees, as if they were unable to say goodbye. Icekit waited beside Ferncloud, his mind still churning after what Dustkit had said.

_Is it possible that he's already killed a cat?_ The thought was alarming, but with Melvin, completely possible. This journey was not going to be fun.

The leaders conversed for a bit about Mudfur and whether Starclan was coming with them or not.

_Newsflash, they aren't._

"Are we going or not?" the Shadowclan leader asked sharply, putting Icekit's thoughts into words.

_I wish he was my leader instead of Firestar with his constant optimism._

"We're ready," the Windclan leader replied.

"Are there many monsters?" the only female leader asked.

"Too many."

Icekit felt someone lift him by the scruff as the clans started making their way across the first stretch of exposed ground. He recognized Dustpelt's scent.

His first instinct was to struggle, but after watching all of the other cats getting stuck in the mud he realized that his tiny legs wouldn't stand a chance. _When will I stop being so useless?_

Dustpelt looked behind himself multiple times at Ferncloud's struggling form a ways behind them causing Icekit to swing back and forth uncomfortably. After a particularly jerky swing, he let out a hiss of annoyance.

"Sorry," Dustpelt murmured through his clenched jaws, but he continued looking back every minute or so.

Luckily, Cloudtail noticed and soon appeared at his side. Most of his fur was covered in mud except for his back which was contently being cleaned by the pounding rain. "I'll take the kit," he offered, taking Icekit from Dustpelt's jaws. He was shorter than Dustpelt, so he had a bit of difficulty keeping Icekit from dragging in the mud.

Dustpelt nodded his thanks and hurried away to help Ferncloud.

Icekit closed his eyes and tried not to focus on anything except the sound of the rain, but Squirrelpaw's gasp made that impossible.

"How will we get past?"

Icekit opened his eyes. In front of the group of cats Two-leg monsters dotted the moor in every direction.

"Can we go around?" Firestar asked the Windclan deputy.

"They're everywhere on the moor," a different Windclan warrior answered. "This is the quietest place to cross, I promise."

Everyone seemed concerned; they would have to travel straight through the Two-legs.

"If we make it that far we'll be safe for a while," the Windclan deputy advised, pointing with his tail at a small, rocky outcrop in the distance. "The Two-leg monsters can't climb those."

"You're right," Firestar replied. "It could be our only chance. Let's wait for these two monsters to pass then make a run for it." He glanced back at the other leaders who nodded their approval.

Icekit watched as the trucks rumbled past until Firestar gave the order to run and Cloudtail took off.

Mud was flying everywhere which made it difficult to see anything, and by the time the cats reached the rocks Icekit was sure his pelt was brown.

Cloudtail set him down next to Dustpelt and Ferncloud then hurried away to help the cats who were still struggling through the mud farther back.

Icekit watched as most of Thunderclan and Windclan raced forward to help the cats on Firestar's order. He could hear Ferncloud's panicked breathing beside him, but that was all that he could make out among the Two-leg shouts, cries for help from cats, and mews of thanks that were almost entirely drowned out by the pounding rain. The cats were frantic and Icekit was sure at least one of them would be lost, but to his surprise no cat was even badly injured at the end of the struggle.

The clan cats rested on the rocks for only a moment while the leaders argued about who should be in charge. Yet again nothing was accomplished; Icekit wasn't even surprised.

"Are we ready?" Firestar yowled.

The cats gathered at the edge of the rocks and the leaders gave the order to move.

The mud wasn't as deep on the other side of the rocks and Ferncloud knew how much her son hated being carried, so Icekit was allowed to walk.

The rain had died down, but not nearly enough to be comfortable. All of the cats were soaked to the skin, but the mud still clung stubbornly to their pelts.

As the cats neared the vehicles in the distance they crouched down so they blended in with the mud. The leaders motioned the cats forward slowly. All went smoothly until the cats were only a few yards away from the crest in the moor that would them away from the mud and cars. A nearby dog let out a loud howl and began pelting towards the cats.

"Dog!" yelled the Riverclan leader.

"Run!" the Shadowclan leader commanded.

Icekit could see the panic in every cat's gaze as they scrambled forward as fast as they could. He couldn't help feeling a little panicky as well; there was no way he could outrun a dog.

"Pick up the kits!"

"Help the elders!"

The leaders' yowled orders rang in his ears as a cat grabbed him by the scruff and pelted up the hill. The cat's scent was Thunderclan, but Icekit couldn't make out the individual scent. He could recognize all of the Thunderclan cats by their looks, but using his sense of smell to tell them apart still eluded him.

The cat was faster than Dustpelt or Cloudtail; he didn't seem to touch the ground as he ran. He didn't pause as he ran, but he did cringe as he ran over a rise in the moor as if he didn't want to cross it, but he kept running.

…

Icekit was still working out the mud from his fur as the cats made their way across a meadow in silence. The rain had eased off, but the bitter wind more than replaced it. Icekit felt himself shivering under his wet fur; he had never really gotten used to being cold. Ferncloud kept glancing over at him nervously as she tried to shield her kit from the cold.

"I'm fine," he hissed through gritted teeth causing Ferncloud to crack a smile and return her gaze forward.

The rustling beech leaves just ahead of Squirrelpaw drew everyone's attention to one small clump of leaves.

A black tom with a white tail tip stepped out from the bushes with a startled expression on his face. A second cat, another tom with a black and white pelt, slid out beside him. Icekit assumed the clan cats knew them because Squirrelpaw's muscles relaxed.

"Firestar, is that you?" the black tom called out, his ears twitching.

"Hello, Ravenpaw," the Windclan leader greeted pleasantly.

"Ravenpaw!" Firestar called, pushing through the other cats to get to the black tom.

Icekit's eyes narrowed in confusion; this cat was an apprentice? He looked older than Firestar. He studied the two conversing cats just as Firestar's eyes flicked over to his then back to Ravenpaw.

"Two-legs?" Ravenpaw blinked in confusion. "Why?"

Icekit could barely hear their conversation so he slowly padded closer.

"They started trapping us. We've been forced to leave the forest."

Icekit recoiled at Firestar's fresh grief; they must have been talking about Graystripe. He quickly returned to Ferncloud; the last thing he needed was another guilt trip.

Firestar, Ravenpaw, and the third cat, Barley, discussed what was going on for a bit before the leaders decided that the clans would be staying at an old house that night so they could rest and eat before continuing their journey tomorrow.

Immediately after Icekit entered the house, all of the warriors left to go hunting. The apprentices stayed to help the exhausted queens and elders, and Cinderpelt and Leafpool stayed to care for any injured cats.

Squirrelpaw got water for everyone on Leafpaw's request, and Icekit watched her greet each cat so he could learn the other cats' names. He only stopped going over them in his head when the warriors came back with food.

Icekit reluctantly returned to Ferncloud who had settled down next to Dustkit's mother, Tallpoppy, for some ungodly reason. He finished his section of Ferncloud's rat quickly, still cringing at the taste of raw food.

He wanted to avoid sleeping anywhere near Dustkit, but Ferncloud wouldn't hear of it, so he curled up next to his mother, keeping one eye open until he was sure Dustkit was asleep. Only then, did he shut his other eye and give into his exhaustion.

…

**I've put up 2 new stories today. One of them is the allegiances for a Mapleshade Super Edition that I'm going to start, and the second is the first chapter of a Divergent trilogy fanfiction that I'm writing with my friend Annalice999. We are each writing the story from our character's perspective. She hasn't posted her first chapter yet, but hopefully it will be done soon. If you're interested I hope you check them both out. Thanks for reading! 8D**


	10. Dawn 8

The journey seemed to get slower and slower as time went on, and the boredom was almost unbearable by the time they hit the mountains. Sure, there were a few arguments and close calls, but they didn't draw his attention away from his sore paws and aching muscles for long. The freezing wind and the upcoming snowfall weren't helping either.

"Are we really going up there?" Applekit asked fearfully, looking up at the steep cliffs and tall mountains that were just ahead of them. She scooted closer to Tallpoppy, but Dustkit pushed her away before their mother could respond.

"Yep!" he chirped cheerfully, his eyes bright but cruel, "Hope you don't fall." He grinned and bumped into her shoulder, almost shoving her over the edge of a shallow cliff.

"Yeah, right!" she growled playfully, bumping him back.

"That's enough!" Tallpoppy snapped. Her eyes were sharp and angry, but behind that Icekit could see exhaustion, almost like she was used to telling her kits not to murder each other.

The two cats broke apart and glanced back at their mother. Applekit looked down guiltily, but Dustkit just smiled and hurried forward to tackle Marshkit to the ground. The exhausted queen sighed in exasperation, heading up the trail to stop her kits from falling off the small cliff.

Icekit watched them from a little ways back with his eyes narrowed. Dustkit's fun was harmless now, but once the cats got to the higher parts of the mountains, one careless shove could send a cat plummeting to his death, and he was sure Dustkit knew that.

He sighed. Why did Melvin have to be here too?

…

The climbing went on for days, and the trail just kept getting steeper and narrower the farther they went up. The worst part was that it showed no signs of ever ending; the mountain peaks didn't seem to get any closer and, after all this time, the dull peaks were the only things he could see in any direction.

Icekit trailed behind most of the other cats as they made their way through the mountains, only allowing Tawnypelt to trail behind him since she and the other cats who had made the journey before had placed themselves at certain intervals among the cats and Tawnypelt had taken the back.

She was quiet, so he didn't mind walking near her, but she kept looking at him like she thought she was going to do something stupid, so Icekit still didn't particularly enjoy her company.

Eventually the path got so narrow that the cats had to walk in single file to avoid falling off.

"Carry the kits!" the Shadowclan leader whose name was Blackstar despite his mostly white pelt ordered from the front of the group, his voice echoing off the mountain sides.

Icekit turned around as Tawnypelt stepped towards him, but he ducked out of the way at the last second. Tawnypelt's jaws snapped together on empty air, and she shot him a glare that would have caused most troublesome kits to shrink back in shame, but not Icekit.

He matched her glare with his own and flattened his ears to show his anger. "I think I can manage to avoid falling off a cliff if I really put my mind to it." His voice was laced with sarcasm and scorn as he turned and stalked away from the Shadowclan warriors, ignoring a curious glance from Spiderpaw as he approached. The Thunderclan apprentice had been just ahead of him only moments ago, but had gained an edge when the cats had stopped to pick up the kits.

Tawnypelt padded up to them a moment later, her face revealing nothing. Spiderpaw cast her a knowing glance and rolled his eyes as if to tell her that the tiny white kit was like that with everyone. Icekit's eyes narrowed at the tom's opinion of him, but he didn't say anything.

Out of nowhere, a wail rang out from farther ahead in the line. Icekit craned his neck around Spiderpaw to see just as a black bundle of fur plummeted out of sight, twisting and turning as it fell.

"Smokepaw!" a Shadowclan queen yowled in anguish, getting dangerously close to the new edge in the path, as she watched the cat disappear into the mist. Behind him, Icekit could feel Tawnypelt tense at her clan mate's death, and she let out a small, choking sound that no one else seemed to notice.

"Get back!" another cat that Icekit couldn't make out from the distance he was at commanded as he weaved through the line of cats to pull the grieving queen back from the edge of the newly formed cliff.

Icekit broke his attention away from the scene and scooted closer to the edge of the rock face on his right side, feeling his pulse race uncomfortably. He had never really gotten used to heights, not after what had happened on the KaibaCorp blimp in Battle City.

Spiderpaw rested his tail on Icekit's shoulder for an instant in an attempt at comfort before he remembered the kit's prickliness and whisked his tail away. Icekit didn't react to the apprentice's touch; he knew that his voice would crack if he made any sharp remarks.

The cats had all stopped at the edge of the giant hole where Smokepaw had plummeted through; even though many cats were already past the large gap, there were still quite a few who had yet to cross. Icekit noticed Leafpaw and Sorreltail about midway down the line and Dustkit and his siblings fairly close to the front.

When their turn came, Icekit watched, trying to determine how Dustkit was going to cross when it was time.

"My kits can't jump that!" their mother cried fearfully, sizing up the gap that she could leap easily, but her kits couldn't.

They can try. Icekit thought, willing Dustkit to attempt to leap the gap; it would be much easier to stay hidden without that psychopath here.

In the end, Crowpaw carried them across the gap and he ended up helping Stormfur get everyone across it until only Icekit and Tawnypelt remained. The Shadowclan she-cat leapt the gap easily and hurried forward to join up with the rest of the group; now only Icekit remained.

"Last one," Stormfur called from the other side of the gap. "Just bring him across then we can go catch up with the rest of the group."

"I can manage fine on my own," Icekit hissed, his pride getting the better of him.

"Not likely."

Crowpaw grabbed him by the scruff and jumped across the gap before Icekit even had time to protest, setting him down roughly on the other side. The young tom was annoyed with the Windclan apprentice, but at the same time he was relieved that he wouldn't have to jump over the large hole himself. And what if he had fallen? What if he had plummeted, like Smokepaw had, down… down… down…

Icekit shook himself off and kept moving.

…

Ferncloud spent about an hour licking him after he caught up to her and Dustpelt on the other side of the hole. Needless to say, he wasn't allowed to travel without one of them from now on, and he wasn't happy about it. He was sick of cats fawning over him, especially Ferncloud, and he longed for the day when he could finally be rid of her, and the rest of these annoying cats.

"Is Icekit okay?" he heard Leafpaw ask Ferncloud softly, almost as if she didn't want him to hear.

"He's fine," Ferncloud assured the medicine cat apprentice slowly, without much confidence. She glanced up at the sky and murmured to herself, "But once the snow starts…" She trailed off, not wanting to imagine an end to her sentence.

"I'm not going to die," Icekit shot back at her angrily. Did she honestly expect him to just drop dead while they were walking one day? It was so frustrating.

Ferncloud blinked at him in shock, then did something Icekit never expected; she smiled. The young queen ducked her head down and purred softly as Leafpaw and Icekit stared at her. "No," she conceded, still smiling, after she finally stopped purring. "No, I suppose you wouldn't; you're too stubborn to just… accept that. You would never…" She trailed off again, her eyes bright and thoughtful. "Thank you," she murmured suddenly, causing Icekit to jump. She licked him softly on the head and padded over to Dustpelt, who wrapped his tail around her as soon as she sat down next to him.

Icekit stared after her for a few seconds before shaking himself off and concluding that cats were just insane sometimes. He turned to Leafpaw, half expecting her to look just as confused as he assumed he looked, but to his annoyance, she was smiling at him too.

"What?" he spat at her, which only caused her to laugh.

"You know," she commented, mostly to herself, "You can be very kind if you want to be."

Icekit's jaw dropped. _Kind? Him?_ His eyes narrowed. "You have clearly misjudged my motives," he growled, flexing his claws. "I am _not_ kind."

This only made Leafpaw smile more. "Whatever you say," she mocked as she walked away, waving her tail in a way that only made Icekit more angry.

He wasn't sure why the proposition annoyed him so much; when he was a child he'd always wanted to be thought of as kind, but only Ayame ever called him that. He guessed that over time he stopped wanting to be understood in favor of being feared. Being understood never worked, no matter how much he tried in the early days, and eventually he just gave up on it. Being feared worked much quicker and all around it was easier, so that was how he did things. Now, it annoyed him when people didn't fear him instead of when people didn't understand him. That was probably why Marik had annoyed him so much.

The ditsy blond had never once even considered seeing Bakura as a threat, and the white-haired thief always assumed that it was because he was too stupid to see it. Despite that, it was almost nice to have someone around who didn't fear him. He already had someone who understood him, and that was Ryou. Sharing a mind with someone makes it almost impossible not to understand them, so while Bakura's Hikari didn't always agree with his Yami's methods, he did understand why he was doing them.

However, Marik was different. He hung out with Bakura despite not knowing anything that could make him resent the Pharaoh or have any interest in the Millennium Items, and that had always seemed strange to the thief king. It was easy to pass it off as Marik being too stupid to even realize how much Bakura _deserved_ to be feared, but it was more than that. Marik seemed to actually like being around him despite his constant insults and snide remarks, and that would always be what confused Bakura the most.

"Dustkit!"

A shill cry snapped Icekit out of his thoughts, and he quickly searched the clearing for the source of the outburst. The thing that caught his attention, however, wasn't the she-cat who had cried out, it was the huge eagle that was quickly rising back into the sky with a dusty-brown bundle clutched in its talons. _Dustkit._

For an instant Icekit willed the eagle to fly away with the tiny kit who could only grow into a monster, but in that same instant Brackenfur launched himself into the air and came plummeting back down, Dustkit landing beside him with a soft thud.

Icekit hovered around the edge of the ring of cats around Brackenfur and Dustkit, but once Leafpaw announced that the dusty brown kit was going to be alright, Icekit left. He didn't go far, because he knew that Ferncloud would come running to see if he was okay as soon as she finished comforting Tallpoppy, but he did get far enough so that he couldn't hear their conversation.

No one realized that they had just saved the cat who was probably going to lead to quite a few of their deaths as soon as he was big enough to tackle another cat, and Bakura wasn't about to point it out. No one would believe him, and besides, he didn't owe these cats anything, but he was defiantly going to make keeping his identity a secret until he could fend for himself an issue.

He cursed at himself again for being so useless.

…

After another close encounter with an eagle, the tribe cats that Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw stayed with when they first crossed the mountains invited all four clans into their caves to stay warm until the snow passed and Dustkit was healed.

They ended up staying much longer than they needed to, but no one wanted to risk facing the snow, especially the queens, so no one really complained about it until it was obvious that it was time to go. They left the day after the newly named Crowfeather's warrior ceremony. He had chosen his own warrior name in honor of Feathertail, the she-cat who had died killing a mountain lion on her first trip through the mountains. Everyone seemed to think it was a great idea, but to Icekit it only sounded depressing to be reminded of a dead friend every time anyone said your name.

Over the last stretch of mountains, no one talked much. Squirrelpaw seemed to be thinking about Stormfur, who had decided to stay with the tribe to be with Brook, a tribe she-cat, and everyone else seemed to be wondering about what they would find on the other side of the mountains.

I didn't take the clans long after they made it out of tribe territory to happen upon a forest territory that caused all of the Thunderclan cats to visibly relax. Not long after they reached a large hill overlooking a lake that reflected all of the stars in the pitch black sky back at the heavens. Icekit saw Leafpaw's eyes shining as she looked down at the sight in front of her, and he couldn't help agreeing with the territory as a possible place for the clans, despite his lack of faith in her dream from StarClan.

It had a pine forest and a maple forest on the far side along with a moor and a wetland closer to the clans, a spot for each of them. Icekit smiled; it looked as if their long journey was finally over.

…

**Well, I found the book… Sorry for not updating last month, but I had some family issues and yeah… I didn't feel like writing for a while. Hope you enjoyed though.**


	11. Allegiances 2

**ThunderClan**

**Leader:** Firestar – ginger tom with a flame-colored pelt

**Deputy:** Graystripe – long-haired grey tom

**Medicine Cat:** Cinderpelt – dark grey she-cat

**Apprentice,** Leafpaw

**Warriors:** Mousefur – small, dusty brown she-cat

**Apprentice,** Spiderpaw

Dustpelt – dark brown tabby tom

**Apprentice,** Squirrelpaw

Sandstorm – pale ginger she-cat

Cloudtail – long-haired white tom 

Brackenfur – golden brown tabby tom

**Apprentice, **Whitepaw

Thornclaw – golden brown tabby tom

Brightheart – white she-cat with ginger patches

Brambleclaw – dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Ashfur – pale gray (with darker flecks) tom, dark blue eyes

Rainwhisker – dark grey tom with blue eyes

Sootfur – lighter grey tom with amber eyes

Sorreltail – tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes

**Apprentices:** Squirrelpaw – dark ginger she cat with green eyes

Leafpaw – light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Spiderpaw – long limbed black tom with a brown underbelly and amber eyes

Whitepaw – white she-cat with green eyes

**Queens:** Ferncloud – pale grey (with darker flecks) she-cat, green eyes, mother of Dustpelt's kits (Icekit)

**Elders:** Longtail – pale tabby tom with dark black stripes, retired early due to failing sight

Goldenflower – pale ginger coat

**ShadowClan**

**Leader:** Blackstar – large white tom with huge, jet-black paws

**Deputy:** Russetfur – dark ginger she-cat

**Medicine Cat:** Littlecloud – very small tabby tom

**Warriors:** Tawnypelt – tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

Cedarheart – dark grey tom

Rowanclaw – ginger she-cat

**Apprentice, **Talonpaw

**Queens:** Tallpoppy – long legged light brown tabby she-cat (Dustkit, Marshkit, Applekit)

**Elders:** Runningnose – small grey and white tom, formerly the Medicine Cat

Boulder – skinny gray tom

**WindClan **

**Leader:** Tallstar – elderly black-and-white tom with a very long tail

**Deputy:** Mudclaw – mottled dark brown tom

**Medicine Cat:** Barkface – short tailed brown tom

**Warriors:** Onewhisker – brown tabby tom

Webfoot – dark grey tabby tom

**Apprentice,** Weaselpaw

Tornear – tabby tom

**Apprentice, **Owlpaw

Crowfeather – dark smoky grey, almost black tom with blue eyes

Ashfoot – gray she-cat

**Queens:** Whitetail – small white she-cat

**Elders:** Morningflower – tortoiseshell she-cat

Rushtail – light brown tom

**RiverClan**

**Leader:** Leopardstar – unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat

**Deputy:** Mistyfoot – grey she-cat with blue eyes

**Medicine Cat:** Mothwing – beautiful golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Warriors:** Blackclaw – smoky black tom

**Apprentice,** Volepaw

Heavystep – thickset tabby tom

**Apprentice,** Stonepaw

Hawkfrost – broad shouldered dark brown tom

Swallowtail – dark tabby she-cat

**Queens:** Dawnflower – pale gray she-cat

Mosspelt – tortoiseshell she-cat

**Cats Outside of Clans**

Smoky – muscular gray and white tom who lives in a barn near the horseplace

Daisy – she-cat with long creamy brown fur who lives with Smoky

Floss – small gray and white she-cat who lives with Smoky and Daisy

**Other Characters**

Shadi – sandy-brown tom in cat form, can enter StarClan at any time, and knows who the two cats mentioned in his prophecy are

Marik Ishtar – no cat form, knows about the two turning into cats

Ishizu Ishtar – no cat form, psychic abilities, knows about the two turning into cats

Ryou Bakura – no cat form, lives in Sanctuary Cottage

…

**Hope you enjoyed um… skimming over the Allegiances… 8D **


	12. Prologue 2

_Ding-dong!_

Ryou Bakura glanced up from the book he was reading and starred at the wall that separated him from his front door in confusion.

That was odd; who would be visiting him? His dad was off on another dig and he hadn't had the chance to meet anyone in the nearby town yet, so there really was no reason for anyone to be out in the middle of the woods, especially in this weather.

Ryou stood up slowly and set his book down, taking special care to mark the page he was on without bending any pages in his father's novel, on a nearby table. He brushed a loose strand of hair out of his eye and made his way to the door a lot slower than he needed to.

He had always been a very cautious person ever since he was a little kid, and when he could no longer hear his other-half's sharp voice ordering him to 'just get on with it!' he had only gotten worse as the days went on. A part of his fear came from the feeling that something bad was going to happen that seemed to seep out of the creepy pine forest he lived in now, but the other part seemed to come from the lack of a sense of security which he had always felt he had when his Yami was there to defend him as well, not that Bakura would ever claim that was what he was doing.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The person at the door was probably just some kid who needed directions. He forced himself to move forward faster, but he ended up swinging his front door open with so much force that it caused the blond-haired boy's eyes to widen in surprise before they quickly relaxed back into their normal position.

"Took you long enough!" the blond grinned. "Did I freak you out?"

Ryou starred at the tanned boy for a few seconds as his guest's smile grew wider at the complete loss-for-words his friend was going through.

"Marik!" Ryou finally responded, his eyes still wide and confused. "What are you doing here?"

His grin widened. "Ishizu's got a meeting with a museum director near here about getting a new exhibit for Domino City's museum, so I thought I'd stop by." He paused. "Also, I _may_ need a place to stay." The last bit was barely audible, but Ryou was used to making out murmured or muttered comments from when Bakura was in his head.

"Can't you stay with Ishizu?"

It wasn't that Ryou didn't want Marik around, but he hadn't bothered to unpack everything yet, and the guest bedroom was where he and his father kept all of the boxes. Plus, he had no way of contacting his dad to ask about it, since his father didn't really believe in technology.

Marik frowned, losing some of the confidence that usually surrounded him. "Well, Ishizu's staying in this really high-end hotel with literally _nothing_ to do, so I thought I'd just stay with you, but I can always stay somewhere else if you want." He smiled again, trying to shrug it off as if it didn't really matter to him, but it looked miserably fake.

The blond never got along with Yugi and his friends because of what Melvin had done to them on the KaibaCorp blimp, so Ryou's move must have hit him hard. The two of them had started out hanging out with Yugi and his friends at lunch and before class, but despite Yugi's efforts to include them, it soon became apparent that they were happier by themselves. Joey could never quite get over what Melvin did to Mai, and Tristan, being his best friend, went along with him. Tea tried harder for them, but in her eyes both Marik and Bakura had nearly killed Yugi and Atem, so she could never really forgive them either.

It had always been hard for Ryou when Bakura was in his head because his Yami was so good at pretending to be him, so Yugi and his friends never had much confidence that they were actually talking to Ryou when it really was him, but it had to be much worse for Marik. At least for him, after Bakura was gone the only thing the others could hold against him was how similar he looked to his Yami, since they couldn't know how little he usually tried to fight Bakura or how much he actually agreed with his Yami's quest despite his dislike of Bakura's methods. It was different for Marik.

He had actually been the one trying to hurt Yugi and his friends for a good portion of the Battle City Tournament, and even though he felt bad about what he had done now, he couldn't take away his past actions.

He must have been lonely once Ryou left. The white-haired boy knew this, and he also knew that he couldn't turn his friend away.

Marik was still watching him, Ryou realized suddenly. He was still waiting for an answer.

"Come on in," Ryou smiled, motioning his friend inside.

Marik's eyes lit up and his normal carefree smile returned to his face as he walked inside, his attention instantly shifting to the new home's décor and layout, no doubt looking for the kitchen.

Ryou hovered at the door for a moment, watching Marik explore his home for the next… well, he wasn't exactly sure how long Marik planned to stay with him, but it was nice to see his friend's bright expression again. He glanced back at the forest before stepping inside again, and he felt the familiar bad feeling that he always got from it wash over him again. He had no idea what it was coming from, but he was constantly worried about it.

He shook his head; it was probably nothing. He wiped the thought from his mind and headed back inside to stop Marik from eating the pie that was sitting on his kitchen counter. He smiled; it was good to have him back.


End file.
